Herbicides, Pesticides and Heavy Metals

Herbicides and Pesticides

What herbicides do you use?

Organic 

None. As Organic growers, we manage weeds naturally, with water. After planting, we raise the water level *just* high enough to drown the grass weeds, but not so high that it harms the rice.

This is featured in this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rAhvL_3LFM

Non-Organic 

We can use herbicides, but we never use any non-selective, broad spectrum herbicides.

Herbicides are only applied to non-organic rice after great deliberation per event, and all alternatives have been exhausted. 

We don't have a specific list of what is used. 

What pesticides do you use? 

Organic 

We use food grade CO2 as a pesticide post harvest. It is compliant with our Organic Certification through CCOF. 

CO2 is a non-invasive fumigant pesticide that is used for its ability to displace oxygen in an enclosed area.

On some occasions, we can use other pesticides while growing. Generally Ridomil Gold Copper is used in rare circumstances and it is approved for Organic growing.

Non-Organic 

Same as organic - we use food grade CO2 as a pesticide for our non-organic rice post harvest and during the growing stage, in some occasions, we use Ridomil Gold Copper.

We never use any PAN Bad Actors (these have been identified by the World Health Organization and includes pesticides with high acute toxicity, known groundwater contaminants, reproductive or developmental toxicants, and probable carcinogens.)

Pesticides are only applied to non-organic rice after great deliberation per event, and all alternatives have been exhausted. 

Do you use glyphosate or Round Up?

We do not use Round-Up or anything containing Glyphosate.

Do you test for glyphosate residue? 

We do test our rice for glyphosate to make sure the levels meet NOP (National Organic Program)  and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) regulatory standards. Our 3rd-party Organic Certifier, CCOF, also ensures this compliance.

Heavy Metals

Arsenic

See our Arsenic Testing page here: https://lundbergsupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6018635396763-Arsenic-Testing  and here: https://www.lundberg.com/pages/heavy-metals-in-food

Cadmium

We test our rice for cadmium each year. The European Food Safety Authority regulation established 115 ppb (0.15 ppm) as the maximum level for cadmium in food and CODEX states the maximum level (ML) for cadmium in white rice as 400 ppb (0.4 ppm). The average of our testing is less than 13 ppb (0.013 ppm), well below the maximum levels set by the European Food Safety Authority and CODEX.

Read more here: https://www.lundberg.com/pages/heavy-metals-in-food

Lead

We test our rice for lead each year. Regulatory agencies have established 200 ppb (0.2 ppm) as the maximum level and  our testing ranges from non-detects to .05 ppm, a quarter of the limit set by regulatory agencies.

Mercury and other metals

We do test our rice for mercury, and other various heavy metals to make sure the levels meet NOP (National Organic Program) and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) regulatory standards. Our 3rd-party Organic Certifier, CCOF, also ensures this compliance.

At this time, the FDA and the Closer to Zero program hasn't set a standard for other metals, but you can see the full plan and progress here: https://www.fda.gov/food/environmental-contaminants-food/closer-zero-reducing-childhood-exposure-contaminants-foods

Until we have more guidance, we don't have our results available to share to the public, but please know we monitor the levels and mitigate natural absorption in our growing practices as much as possible and are working on a plan to share our results on our site soon. 

Other Testing Questions

Do you test for mold or mycotoxins?

We do not currently have a mycotoxin testing program.

Since our products are dried to a very low moisture level, we don't have to test for mold or mycotoxins.

That said, we often like to go above and beyond in our testing and transparency with our consumers, so I will let our Quality Assurance team (who runs our testing program) know you've asked about this. If enough people request this and it's affordable and logical for us to do, it may be something we incorporate into our testing program in the future.

Do you test for aflatoxins?

We do not currently have a aflatoxin testing program.

What fertilizer do you use? 

Organic chicken litter is the main fertilizer we use. It is standard industry practice in Organic rice growing.

The manure is heated to a certain temperature to kill pathogens so it is sanitary. It is applied to the soil long before any of the edible rice kernels are produced by the plant.

In depth information:
In organic growing the NOP (National Organic Program) requires that any animal/poultry manure is applied with a great enough window of growing period to prevent any contamination to the food for human consumption being produced by the plant.

The rice that we eat utilized the nitrogen and other nutrients in the manure.

True Organics 6-3-2 is another CCOF/USDA approved fertilizer that can be used. (Blood meal is an ingredient in this fertilizer)

Is your rice exposed to radiation?

All of our rice is non-irradiated. It is not exposed to radiation at any point in the growing and manufacturing process.