Rapid Determination of Cadmium in Rice by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry with a Double Chamber Electrothermal Vaporization System

In Japan the permitted maximum concentration of cadmium in whole-rice is regulated by the standard of the Food Sanitation Act. A typical method for the quantitative analysis of cadmium in whole-rice includes complicated and troublesome sample-preparation procedure. We propose to use an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer connected to a double-chamber electro thermal vaporization (ETV) system to measure cadmium. This technique does not require any chemical preparation. A calibration curve to determine the cadmium concentration obtained by the ETV method has been made using the certification standard of Rice Flour (NIES No. 10). The obtained results of the cadmium concentration were compared with the value obtained by the wet decomposition method. A good correlation between the results has been shown. The ETV method could be used as a quick analytical way to measure the cadmium concentration in whole-rice within 3 minutes without any chemical sample preparation.