Rice is produced and consumed in many parts of the world and is the dominant staple food for over half of the world’s population, especially in South and Southeast Asian developing countries. Rice is a complex matrix made up of components of significant nutritional importance. However, it also contains toxic trace elements. Compared to other cereals and terrestrial-based foods, rice grain accumulates heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) more efficiently. This is because rice plants cultivated in flooded soils takes up heavy metals from irrigated water more easily than other terrestrial crops. Food consumption has been identified as the major pathway for human exposure to potential toxic elements compared to other exposure ways such as inhalation and dermal contact. Once consumed, heavy metals can accumulated in the body and cause severe health effects in several internal organs including liver and lung. In China, rice is one of the main potentially toxic elements sources owing to the great amount of consumption. Consequently, rice is a major source of potentially toxic elements intake for much of the China’s population. As such, it has attracted increasing attention due to exposuring to heavy metals during rice consumption. In this study, paired soil and rice (n=30) samples were collected when rice was ready for harvest during July to November 2018. The sampling sites were evenly distributed in soils across a whole province. All rice samples were powdered with a stainless steel grinder and soil samples were powdered with an agate mortar and passed through a 100-mesh sieve. The content of total heavy metals (Cd and As) in rice and soil samples were determined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Soil contamination by heavy metals were much more serious in southern China due to mining, smelting and acidic nature of soils. Locally-produced rice is the main staple food for local residents. The aims of the study were to: 1) analysis heavy metals concentrations in rice and soil; 2) assess non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risks caused by heavy metals contaminated by rice consumption. The result helps to develop strategies to reduce the transport of heavy metals from soil to rice in the investigated regions.