A Family Farm’s Crisis: Its Rice Contains Arsenic
Lundberg Family Farms grows rice in Richvale, Calif., about 70 miles north of Sacramento. It has 225 employees and 5,000 acres of farmland, and it contracts with about 40 other family farms to grow rice on 12,000 acres throughout the Sacramento Valley. It sells 17 varieties of rice and more than 150 products made from rice, and it produces more than $50 million in annual revenue.
In mid-September, Consumer Reports published the results of independent lab tests that found inorganic arsenic, a carcinogen, in rice and many rice products. This came on the heels of a study by Dartmouth, released in February, that showed inorganic arsenic in brown rice syrup. Tim Schultz, 51, part of the third generation of Lundberg Farms’s family owners, said the company’s response was evolving. Because there is no federal safe standard for inorganic arsenic in food, Lundberg has struggled to make sense of the information for its customers, who greeted the news with panic.
Although the government regulates the amount of inorganic arsenic in drinking water, there are no standards for food. “The jury is still out on what levels may cause health problems,” Mr. Schultz said, “but the federal standard for drinking water is 10 parts per billion. Tests on our rice show 95 parts per billion.” Consumer Reports’ tests found levels in rice ranging from about 24 to 214 parts per billion.
