[Studies on the rare earth content in food and its daily intake in man]

The rare earth content of major food in China, they are distributed over 17 provinces and cities were examined by three-wavelength spectrophotometry. The rare earth contents were as follows: 0.41 +/- 0.35 mg/kg in grain, 0.23 +/- 0.18 mg/kg in vegetables, 0.19 +/- 0.11 mg/kg in fruits, 0.83 +/- 0.73 mg/kg in beans, 0.66 +/- 0.50 mg/kg in potato, 1.76 +/- 0.23 mg/kg in tea, 0.07 +/- 0.05 mg/kg in meat, birds, domestic fowls and eggs, 0.52 +/- 0.12 mg/kg in aquatic animals, 5.11 +/- 8.68 micrograms/L in drinking water. The possible daily intake of rare earth for a person from common foodstuffs was about 2.10-2. 50 mg/person.day, which was about one tenth to one sixth of ADI allowable daily intake of rare earths for a person.