Monitoring imports of rice and freshwater prawns for inorganic arsenic and heavy metals

During February 2026 SCPHA will be inspecting and sampling the following products as part of our routine monitoring programme:

• Rice from Thailand and Vietnam
• Freshwater prawns from Thailand and Vietnam

Any products sampled as part of this programme will be analysed for inorganic arsenic in addition to a heavy metal screen (to include total arsenic, cadmium and mercury).

The samples are monitoring samples so the products will be released for import after sampling, provided that everything else is satisfactory during the inspection.

Results may take up to one month after sampling.

The cost of analysis will be covered by SCPHA.

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