Understanding the sensitivity differences of cadmium (Cd) uptake by different rice cultivars and the food safety thresholds of Cd in typical paddy soils of Jiangsu Province is necessary for the safe production of rice and the environmental assessment of paddy field. In the present study, twelve rice cultivars widely grown in Jiangsu Province were selected, and two paddy soils (acid soil sampled from Xinghua City and neutral soil sampled from Changshu City) with different physicochemical properties were collected from Jiangsu Province. The soils were spiked with Cd in different Cd addition levels. The greenhouse pot experiments were conducted to study the sensitivity differences of accumulation ability of different rice cultivars. The results indicated that there were significant differences in Cd concentrations in brown rice due to the difference of enrichment ability, the highest concentration is 3~6 times higher than the minimum concentration, and the indica hybrid rice was significantly higher than that of japonica regular rice and japonica hybrid rice. The SSD curves for Cd were fitted with Burr Ⅲ type distribution based on the bioconcentration factors of the twelve rice cultivars. The 5% hazardous concentrations were then derived inversely by the national food safety standard. The threshold values based on total Cd content in Xinghua soil and Changshu soil were 0.78 and 1.17 mg/kg respectively. The corresponding threshold values based on CaCl₂ extractable Cd were 0.13 and 0.14 mg/kg, while the corresponding threshold values based on EDTA extractable Cd were 0.46 and 0.64 mg/kg, respectively. Cd thresholds based on total Cd in the soils were higher than the 2nd Grade (0.30 mg/kg for soils with pH≤7.5) of the Chinese Soil Environmental Quality Standard (GB 15618-1995).