Does rice from the store contain pesticide residues that could harm you over time?

What's actually in it

Rice paddies are treated with insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides to protect the crop from pests and disease. Traces of these chemicals remain on the grain after harvest, milling, and packaging. Common pesticides found in rice include organophosphates, pyrethroids, neonicotinoids, and triazine herbicides. Organic rice has fewer residues but isn't always pesticide-free.

What the research says

A 2026 study in Environ Int compiled data on pesticide residues in rice from every major rice-producing region in the world. The researchers created contamination profiles for rice from different countries and calculated the health risks for people who eat rice daily.

The study found pesticide residues in rice from nearly every region tested. Some samples contained multiple pesticides at once, creating a cocktail effect that's harder to assess than any single chemical alone.

The researchers ranked the pesticides by toxicity and found that a handful posed the greatest concern. Organophosphate insecticides were among the riskiest because they're neurotoxic, meaning they damage the nervous system. At typical daily rice consumption levels, especially in Asian countries where rice is eaten at every meal, the cumulative exposure to these pesticides crossed safety thresholds in some cases.

Washing and cooking rice removes some surface contamination, but not all. Pesticides that get absorbed into the grain during growth can't be washed off. For people who eat rice once or twice a day, even low levels of residue add up over months and years.