Baby Carrots

[sarena kopciel]

I received the following from my daughter in law and wanted to know if anyone knows if there is truth to this. I would assume, sadly, that it is true!
This is what I found on snopes!

The following is information from a farmer who grows and packages carrots for IGA, METRO, LOBLAWS, etc.

The small cocktail (baby) carrots you buy in small plastic bags are made using the larger crooked or deformed carrots which are put through a machine which cuts and shapes them into cocktail carrots . Most people probably know this already.

What you may not know and should know is the following:


Once the carrots are cut and shaped into cocktail carrots they are dipped in a solution of water and chlorine in order to preserve them (this is the same chlorine used in your pool) since they do not have their skin or natural protective covering, they give them a higher dose of chlorine.


You will notice that once you keep these carrots in your refrigerator for a few days, a white covering will form on the carrots, this is the chlorine which resurfaces. At what cost do we put our health at risk to have aesthetically pleasing vegetables which are practically plastic?

We do hope that this information can be passed on to as
many people as possible in the hopes of informing them where these carrots come from and how they are processed. Chlorine is a very well known carcinogen.

[George Mounce]

Never really liked those things anyways, might as well just eat a sugar cube.

http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/carrots.asp

As for the "white film" the e-mailed alert claims is the "chlorine coming to the surface," that white blush is caused by dehydration of the cut surface — were you to pull a carrot from your own garden, slice it it half and place it in your refrigerator, it too would manifest that same whitish appearance on the cut portion once the carrot dried out a bit. Cocktail carrots are more prone to develop this only because their entire surface area is a cut surface. To keep cocktail carrots from drying out, store them at low temperature and in a high relative humidity environment.

[Steven Low]

Uh, that's the "myth" that's being debunked.

Although they do still use chlorine... it would be interesting to see how much of it is used though, heh. If it's just a dip then obviously it's not going to pick up much inside.. but if they are really soaked then that could be problematic.

[Allen Yeh]

From the Snopes link:

The carrots now used to make "baby-cut carrots" have been specially bred to contain more sugar than their standard-sized cousins because this extra sweetness appeals more strongly to children. Likewise, their bright orange color has also been bred into them, as has the evenness of that color all the way through the root.

I don't think I've ever checked the back of a bag, I always thought it was just a carrot. Sheesh. Talk about being naive.

FYI

Generally, consumers can determine whether small carrots are true baby carrots or not by looking at what's listed on the packaging. Labels that say "baby carrots" appear on packages of very young carrots that are harvested while the vegetables are still quite tiny. Labels that proclaim "baby-cut carrots" appear on packages of petite carrots made by chopping down and polishing much larger versions of the vegetable.

[Garrett Smith]

Steven,
I'd have to guess it is more chlorine than simple tap water, for sure.

[Blair Lowe]

Never knew that, thanks. I figured the baby carrots are too expensive compared to the regular bagged carrots and remember the skin is supposed to be nutritious besides tasting good.

[Camille Lore]

Damn, I've been eating those things. No more.