Carrots and Bleach: Yum-Yum

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An email came to me, warning me that baby carrots are dipped in chlorine. They are made from deformed carrots, peeled and then dipped in a high solution of chlorine to keep them from turning white and being deemed, “bad”.  This made me scratch my head. Food dipped in chlorine that I am feeding my children, who love baby carrots. Thus the research began. Could this be true?

I hate to say it but, yes.

When a baby carrot turns white they call this, “white blushing” and often times this “white blushing” causes the bags of carrots to pulled from the shelf and thrown away. Consumer waste.  To prevent this consumer waste the carrots are then dipped in the chlorine.

To date, white blush has been controlled primarily by washing freshly processed carrots with chilled water, usually in a hydro cooler, followed by refrigeration and/or by packaging of the freshly processed carrots in specialized containers, including some that maintain modified atmospheres within the containers. Chlorine has also been added to the chilled water treatments for sanitation purposes, and primarily to control microbial bacteria growth on the processed carrots. However, depending upon the above variables, the onset of white blush may only be delayed for a few days. Therefore baby carrots tend to have a shorter shelf life.

You can also go find the patented information on washing carrots and the dilution rate of the chlorine the carrots are dipped in, as though that matters.

I like baby carrots and find them convenient and my children like them. After reading this and finding out the truth, I will be buying my carrots organic and whole. So much for convenient and packaging, a lessen I should know by now. I suppose if I were to choose the baby carrots I would be washing them very well in my favorite veggie wash.  From what I read, some say that it doesn’t matter that a carrot was dipped in bleach but I guess you decide.

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September 30th, 2008 - Comments:
Filed Under: Green Health

Green & Clean Mom is a mother of two young children, wife, educator, green entrepreneur, humanitarian, enthusiastic social media fanatic, internet marketer, social media and marketing consultant.
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21 Responses to “Carrots and Bleach: Yum-Yum”

  1. 1 Maria Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 7:30 am

    OMG. That is so disgusting! Are organic baby carrots dipped too? Well, they must be because they are orange. Yuck yuck yuck! Whole carrots all of the time for us too now! EW!

    Marias last blog post..Women make 78% of what men do.

  2. 2 Kirstin Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 10:17 am

    Wow, this is really scary. I’ll be sticking with the organic ones I usually buy. I hope this isn’t the case with them.

    Kirstins last blog post..Crafty, Beautiful and “Green”

  3. 3 Carla Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    Interesting. I always though that some baby carrots tasted like bleached, but I thought that was my imagination. It was very faint, but I guess I’m sensitive to it.

  4. 4 MamaBird/SurelyYouNest Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 12:49 pm

    Wow, that is so gross. I have been steering clear of them to avoid the plastic bag but now will abandon them altogether. Tx. And bleccch!

    MamaBird/SurelyYouNests last blog post..The Sweet Cha-Ching of the Holidays

  5. 5 Mommychicky Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 12:57 pm

    Baby carrots always creep me out - they are just so unnaturally smooth. Another reason not to eat them…

    Mommychickys last blog post..Celebrities in my every day life

  6. 6 Gidget Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 2:01 pm

    I’ve lately been buying whole carrots at the farmers’ market and washing, peeling, and cutting them up. Now I’m glad and will continue this- it’s worth the extra work!

    Gidgets last blog post..Books on My Nightstand~ September

  7. 7 Stephanie - Green SAHM Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 4:10 pm

    My kids have long since learned to love whole carrots. I just wash them up and the kids are just fine with it. For me this was a cost saving measure. Glad to have another reason.

    Stephanie - Green SAHMs last blog post..Planning My Fall Garden

  8. 8 Green & Clean Mom Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

    I’m glad everyone was as shocked as I was. Another reason to buy from a farm and wash them yourself.

  9. 9 Kim Woodbridge Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 10:12 pm

    I really can’t believe this. I guess I should stop being surprised by the environmentally unsound and unhealthy practices that we are subjected to.

    Thanks for letting us know about this Sommer.

    Kim Woodbridges last blog post..Stuff This in Your RSS - 9/30/08 - WordPress Screencasts

  10. 10 Green & Clean Mom Says:
    October 1st, 2008 at 11:45 am

    No problem Kim. I know, I’m surprised all the time and then wonder why? Sometimes I think that having faith isn’t a bad thing.

  11. 11 Rebecca (Green Baby Guide) Says:
    October 1st, 2008 at 3:07 pm

    That is interesting, but I am not all that surprised by it. So many of our foods are waxed or coated with something-or-other. It takes a little more time to peel and cut whole carrots, but at least it will save us all some money, AND we won’t have to eat bleach!

    Rebecca (Green Baby Guide)s last blog post..Five Reasons I Don’t Buy Groceries in Bulk

  12. 12 Sara Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 5:49 am

    I just watched a food documentary on tomatoes, and they wash these in a water/chlorine bath too. I suspect that probably most commercial veggies are done this way. I am concerned about organic guidelines. If the farmer grows without pesticides, and organic, but then washes in chlorine for mass sales, can it still be certified organic?

    Saras last blog post..Eat From Home Challenge

  13. 13 C Says:
    October 3rd, 2008 at 9:33 am

    Maybe you should go to snopes when you get emails like this…. you should never believe all forwarded emails!!!

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

  14. 14 Mel Says:
    October 3rd, 2008 at 11:05 am

    I’m guessing you all drink water? Tap water is also sanitized with chlorine and from my research I’ve done on this topic the amount of chlorine used in the processing of the carrots is less than that in municipal tap water. Also, under food processing guidelines the carrots must also be rinsed after the water/chlorine bath in potable water. The “blush” is not the chlorine it is dehydration. It happens with your big carrots too. I suggest the general public do their own research before buying into random emails.

  15. 15 April ~ EnchantedDandelions Says:
    October 5th, 2008 at 11:28 am

    Yuck! I’ve been back and forth about buying baby carrots, as I knew they were a convience food, therefore more expensive, but figured I would splurge since the kids love them so much.

    Didn’t know I was doing the kids a “favor” by giving them something soaked in chlorine!

    BTW, I read the snopes article, which disputed the claim that the “white stuff” was the bleach (although this blog made no mention of, so not sure why people are pointing that out…). But snopes did confirm that they are soaked in bleach, so yeah… eww. I guess things like tomatoes are different, because they still have the skin on them, which protects it. The carrots are peeled, then put in the bleach solution, so it’s more likely to absorb INTO the carrot.

    April ~ EnchantedDandelionss last blog post..A bit late, but THANKS!

  16. 16 Lisa Says:
    October 5th, 2008 at 4:02 pm

    Yuck! I don’t eat carrots but I will be sharing this with my MIL and mom cause they both do.

    Lisas last blog post..Giveaway: Eco-friendly Note Cards

  17. 17 ***sarah*** Says:
    October 30th, 2008 at 11:02 am

    Im confused i dont know what to believe whether its harmful or not i do know this in todays world there a lot of things our food is dipped and soaked in we never really know what we are consuming we just take our chances we have to eat

  18. 18 So over the hype Says:
    November 3rd, 2008 at 11:57 am

    Please go to FreshPlaza.com and read the article there. These Carrots otherwiase know as “cut carrots” are harmless.
    http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=29229

  19. 19 Allena Says:
    November 14th, 2008 at 1:33 pm

    Before you all jump at the “Yuck” bit check out these resources about the baby carrot email warning.

    http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/260034
    http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/fooddrink/a/baby_carrots.htm
    http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=29229
    http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/carrots.asp

  20. 20 Scarth Says:
    November 28th, 2008 at 8:47 am

    Oh yes millions have died from eating these so called clorinated carrots. I love the part about “deformed” carrots bieng used too, as if some carrots are bad because they did not grow perfectly straight.
    The turning white is simply them drying out - with no skin they will turn white like dry skin. Try it on your organic carrots some time, peel one then leave it in a baggie for a week.
    If they were so highy clorinated you would taste it. PS there is clorine and other chemicals in most water.
    And due to comments posted on sites like this there is now a higher rate of cavities in children due to parents giving bottled water instead of the floridated water from taps.

  21. 21 Green & Clean Mom Says:
    November 28th, 2008 at 12:24 pm

    Scarth,

    I think if you are comfortable eating carrots dipped in bleach (little or a lot) and feel okay with that….more power to you. I would rather not have chemicals touch my food if it can be avoided it. That is that. To each their own and we all need to do what we feel comfortable with. To make fun of, mock or act as though I am being silly, is unkind and unfair.

    As for comments like this at sites like this being the cause of more cavities, that is just untrue. My children drink well water and we don’t drink bottled water, it is expensive and not very “green” or earth friendly. We also don’t use fluoride, never have and never will. Why? They brush twice a day, eat little sugar and take supplements. They don’t need fluoride. They have perfect teeth. Funny how I took fluoride as a kid and brushed but still had cavities. Not sure I can believe in the correlation. To each their own. Cheers.

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