How every number on this page is set
The standard for each analyte is the strictest maximum level set by any credible government regulator — among them the European Union, Codex Alimentarius, the US FDA, Australia/New Zealand, the Gulf states (GSO), and the national authorities of every jurisdiction that regulates the product — converted into Rice noodles’s own as-sold basis. It is a lookup of sovereign law, carrying at most one disclosed basis conversion where the law is written in another basis, and an explicit read-across where no government regulates the exact product. A certified product sits at or below every applicable sovereign limit at once.
Where no government regulates the exact product for an analyte, the standard does not go blank or invent a number: the limit is read across from the nearest government value for an analogous product, so a certified product still sits at or below a real sovereign limit. The ratchet tightens these after publication as surveillance warrants.
Master Limit Table
All values in ppb (µg/kg), as-sold basis. 7 of 11 analytes carry a firm ceiling; the remainder are governed by mandatory control or reflex-speciation screening with no standalone number, itemised in the derivation below. A brand meeting every firm value on a like-for-like basis, and passing every control, qualifies for the mark.
| Analyte | Tier | HMTc limit | Binding basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead (Pb) | Tier 1 | 200 | strictest government ML (Paraguay) |
| Inorganic arsenic (iAs) | Tier 1 | 250 | strictest government ML (EU) |
| Total arsenic (tAs) | Tier 2 | 300 | strictest government ML (Paraguay) |
| Mercury, total (tHg) | Tier 1 | 20 | strictest government ML (HK) |
| Methylmercury (MeHg) | Tier 1 | n/m | not material — controlled analyte (see note) |
| Cadmium (Cd) | Tier 1 | 100 | strictest government ML (AU/NZ) |
| Total chromium (Cr) | Tier 2 | 1000 | strictest government ML (China) |
| Hexavalent chromium (Cr-VI) | Tier 2 | n/m | not material — controlled analyte (see note) |
| Nickel (Ni) | Tier 2 | 1500 | strictest government ML (EU) |
| Tin (Sn) | Tier 2 | n/m | not material — controlled analyte (see note) |
| Aluminium (Al) | Tier 2 | n/m | not material — controlled analyte (see note) |
Tier 1 (Pb, iAs, Hg, MeHg, Cd) are zero-tolerance toxics with no established safe threshold. Tier 2 (tAs, Cr, Cr-VI, Ni, Sn, Al) carry a 150% transitional allowance under the program’s Status A–E framework. Inorganic arsenic (iAs) is the arsenic species that binds on rice: rice hyperaccumulates arsenic, and every government that regulates it does so by product form (milled 150, parboiled/husked/rice-flour 250, rice products 300, rice drinks 30). Non-rice cereals do not hyperaccumulate arsenic, so iAs is not-material there and total arsenic (tAs) carries the government cereal ceiling instead. Mercury is limited as total mercury (tHg); methylmercury (MeHg), which no government regulates in grain, is bounded by the total-mercury ceiling. Hexavalent chromium (Cr-VI) is controlled by reflex speciation on total chromium, not an invented number. Tin (Sn) is material only for canned product, which routes to the canned-goods category. Aluminium (Al) has no government grain maximum in any jurisdiction.
Derivation — every government’s number, side by side
The full derivation for Rice noodles. Each row lists every government maximum level in force worldwide, converted to the as-sold basis; the HMTc limit is the strictest of them, and the last column names which sovereign law binds. A blank cell means that government sets no limit for this analyte in this product.
| Analyte | EU | AU/NZ | GSO | China | India | Mercosur | Israel | Paraguay | Vietnam | HK | CO | HMTc | Binds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead (Pb) | — | — | — | — | — | 200 | — | 200 | — | — | — | 200 | Paraguay |
| Inorganic arsenic (iAs) | 250 | — | 300 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 250 | EU |
| Total arsenic (tAs) | — | — | — | — | — | 300 | — | 300 | — | — | — | 300 | Paraguay |
| Mercury, total (tHg) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 20 | — | 20 | HK |
| Methylmercury (MeHg) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | n/m³ | controlled |
| Cadmium (Cd) | 150 | 100 | 400 | — | 400 | 400 | 200 | 400 | 400 | 100 | 200 | 100 | AU/NZ |
| Total chromium (Cr) | — | — | — | 1000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1000 | China |
| Hexavalent chromium (Cr-VI) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | n/m³ | controlled |
| Nickel (Ni) | 1500 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1500 | EU |
| Tin (Sn) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | n/m³ | controlled |
| Aluminium (Al) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | n/m³ | controlled |
All values µg/kg (ppb), as-sold basis. ² no government sets this analyte for this exact product form: the value is read across from the nearest government limit for an analogous product, or — where the Binds column reads occurrence or precautionary — taken from measured occurrence data or set as a precautionary near-neighbour value; the ratchet tightens it as surveillance warrants. ³ not material in this matrix: controlled by reflex speciation or packaging control, not a standalone number.
Source regulations
Every published government regulation weighed to set this standard, evaluated against each other. The strictest applicable maximum level binds each analyte; the rest are comparators, and where no government regulates the exact product the value is read across from the nearest government limit. Follow a reference for the source document and its per-analyte limits — the Derivation table above shows every value side by side.
| # | Regulation | Year | Instrument | Role in this standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915 (as amended by (EU) 2023/465 for rice drinks) and (EU) 2024/1987 for nickel | 2023 | Maximum levels | Binds inorganic arsenic, nickel; Comparator for cadmium |
| 2 | GB 2762 — National Food Safety Standard | 2022 | Maximum levels | Binds total chromium |
| 3 | FSANZ Food Standards Code — Schedule 19 | 2015 | Maximum levels | Binds cadmium |
| 4 | Paraguay Decreto 1335/2019 | 2019 | Maximum levels | Binds lead, total arsenic; Comparator for cadmium |
| 5 | FSSAI (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations | 2011 | Maximum levels | Comparator for cadmium |
| 6 | GSO 193 — Gulf Technical Regulation | 2021 | Maximum levels | Comparator for inorganic arsenic, cadmium |
| 7 | Israel Food Contaminants Standard (FCS) | 2016 | Maximum levels | Comparator for cadmium |
| 8 | MERCOSUR GMC Resolución 12/2011 | 2011 | Maximum levels | Comparator for lead, total arsenic, cadmium |
| 9 | Vietnam QCVN 8-2:2011/BYT | 2011 | Maximum levels | Comparator for cadmium |
Cite this standard
Pendergrass, K. “Rice noodles.” In Heavy Metal Tested & Certified (HMTc) Grains, Cereals, and Rice Products standard, version 1.0. Institute of Contaminant Standards (ICS), 2026. DOI: registration pending.
The literature baseline for every analyte is maintained independently at the Heavy Metal Index. This certification standard applies those findings; the two are kept editorially separate by design.