Lundberg Family Farms

An Important Message Regarding Consumer Reports

Lundberg Family Farms respects Consumer Reports as a valuable consumer advocacy publication, and supports its mission to empower consumers to protect themselves. We support consumers’ right to know what is in the food they eat, so that they can make informed choices about their diet.

The results of the testing for arsenic on rice and rice products published by Consumer Reports on September 19, 2012, are fairly consistent with our initial findings for levels of inorganic arsenic. While the data they report represents a very small sample size for any particular product, and therefore cannot be considered statistically predictive, the levels they report are within the ranges of results our own testing.

We share Consumer Report's commitment to food safety, and will continue to support the FDA’s effort to conduct a thorough and scientific based health risk assessment. We believe that changes in dietary guidance and action levels should be based on sound science and we believe that the FDA is working diligently to determine scientifically valid guidance. We also believe that the FDA needs to be given the time and resources required to complete this complex analysis. We support the FDA’s current dietary advice, to eat a balance and diversified diet that includes a variety of whole grains in order to ensure good nutrition.

One of the issues raised by the Consumer Reports article is the long-term health impacts of chronic exposure to inorganic arsenic at low levels over a lifetime. We believe this merits additional study, and support additional research to better understand the actual health impact of a life-time’s exposure to inorganic arsenic at the levels currently being reported. We also support efforts to understand what causes these low levels, and what can be done to reduce them further.

At Lundberg Family Farms, we are committed to growing sustainable and healthy rice as well as providing our customers with safe, high-quality foods. We are committed to providing consumers with the information and resources they need to make informed choices about their family’s food.