Baby Carrots

[LuvaBun]

I work in a seniors residence, and our kitchen received an email the other day about baby carrots that you buy in plastic bags in the store. I haven't got the actual email, but the story was this ...

The baby carrots in plastic bags are actually made from disfigured carrots, put through a machine to get the shape. To preserve them, them are put in a chlorine/water solution - the same chlorine that goes into swimming pools. As these carrots don't have skins, they absorb the chlorine. The white marks that you sometimes see when they've been in the 'fridge is the chlorine coming to the surface. Chlorine is a carcinogen.

I don't know how true this all is, and whether all baby carrots are the same, but I know I certainly won't be giving my bunnies any more, just in case!

Jan

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Thanks for sharing, Jan, but I'm kind of skeptical- The baby organic carrots I buy get the white stuff too and I can't imagine them putting chlorine in organic food. Also, when I've peeled my own carrots and put them in the fridge, they get white on them when they start drying as well. This sounds like something someone made up to rile people up. Maybe the International Celery Council put this rumor out so people would buy more celery sticks The fact that it was one of those infamous forwarded e-mails makes it even fishier, and that there's nothing in the news about it. I can't wait for other people to comment. I'm off to check out Snopes!

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Okay, I found the Snopes article: http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/carrots.asp

Very interesting article, everyone should read it! I'd wondered about how baby carrots were made. And if anyone's concerned about how the carrots are processed, the article says how to tell whether a package of carrots is from actual baby carrots or from big carrots that have been cut to be small.

Sorry that last paragraph is bold, blue and underlined when you hover over it, I can't change it!

 

[pamnock]

Remember that chlorine is in many products including drinking water. Although it has been suspected to be a carcinogen, we've been adding chlorine to our rabbit's drinking water for 20 years, with no increased cases of cancer than herds not on chlorine. Chlorine is also commonly added to livestock water.

Chlorine tablets are also sold to add to human drinking water to kill bacteria.

So, if it is suspected that carrots are rinsed in a dilute chlorine mixture, it's certainly better than contracting food poisoning!

Pam

 

[BethM]

If baby carrots were only made from "deformed" carrots, all carrots coming out of my garden would be good canditates!

 

[LuvaBun]

BethM wrote:

If baby carrots were only made from "deformed" carrots, all carrots coming out of my garden would be good canditates!

LOL

Thanks, Shiloh and Pam. Guess I'll check the packaging a bit better

Jan

 

[degrassi]

Chlorine also evaporates very quickly. So after they are rinse and packaged, by the time they get to you and you open the bag there is probably none left on the carrots.

Even with drinking water. Most of the chlorine evaporates quickly. I know people with fish tanks that dont' even use water conditioners. They just allow the water going back into their tanks to splash around and be aerated, allowing the chlorine to evaporate. Thats why most cities are now switching to chloramines(chlorine/ ammonia bond) as its more stable and last longer in the water then straight chlorine.

 

[slavetoabunny]

Thanks for the research Shiloh! I believe this topic came up a while back and one of our members that works in the chemical field replied that the amount of chlorine would be so minute that it wasn't anything to be concerned about.

 

[tdbeartoo]

i heard that baby carrots are coated in nitrates, but I don't know if that's true