Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/498427
May 2015 WINES&VINES 19 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS United States, but regulations in Canada deem anything up to 100 ppb acceptable. Meanwhile, the threshold in Europe, as set by the Interna- tional Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), is twice as high at 200 ppb. A fact sheet issued by the University of California, Davis' Department of Viticulture and Enology the week after the lawsuit was filed added that published data from Europe recorded arsenic levels no higher than 7.6 ppb, while Liquor Control Board of Ontario tests in Canada also indicate levels below regulatory limits. The only products to exceed government standards were specific kinds of rice, which has been a regular target of the popular maga- zine Consumer Reports. Rice has variously checked in at between 59 and 114 parts per billion (though California rice contained lower levels than rice from many other regions in the United States, not to mention interna- tionally; rice imported from abroad often logged as much inorganic arsenic as 200 parts per billion). But even these levels in rice (which can be reduced by washing the grains prior to cook- ing) haven't been identified as a health threat by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "The amount of detectable arsenic is too low in the rice and rice product samples to cause any immediate or short-term adverse health effects," the Food and Drug Administration re- ported in 2013. Similarly, a fact sheet posted by UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology on March 25, 2015, noted, "Average adult expo- sure to inorganic (arsenic) through food, ac- cording to data from UC Davis, is about 0.05 μg/kg body weight per day. It would take in- ordinately high consumption of wine that co- incidentally had high levels of arsenic to come close to the 0.3 μg/kg body weight per day level of concern" set by the Environmental Protection Agency. "For all the data that we have for published amounts of arsenic in wine, no, I don't think it's a significant source of arsenic in the diet," Susan Ebeler, a professor and chemist in the Depart- ment of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis, and part of the university's interdisciplinary Foods for Health Institute, told Wines & Vines. However, she said she understands why con- cern over arsenic in food is a recurring issue. "They touch on a consumer concern to make sure that the food supply is safe," she said. "No- body wants to hear that they're eating arsenic, right? But we have to assess the risks.…For the average consumer to understand what the real issues are, it's complicated, so it's hard to un- derstand what the real risk is." The San Francisco, Calif.-based Wine Insti- tute has posted its own fact sheet regarding arsenic in wine, describing the potential class action as "unfounded." "We are concerned that the irresponsible publicity campaign by the litigating party could scare the public into thinking that wine is not safe to consume, which is patently untrue," it said in a statement. "We will continue to keep consumers, the media and industry informed." Wineries named in the suit such as Hahn Family Wines have deferred to the Wine Insti- tute's statement on the matter. Ste. Michelle Wine Estates—whose Chateau Ste. Michelle and Erath brands, along with others from the Northwest, ranked among those least contaminated by arsenic and other heavy metals by Beverage Grades—declined comment on its showing. —Peter Mitham