MyThirtySpot

When Girl Meets 30

Baby Carrots Causing Cancer?

By 9 Comments

I got this e-mail forward today and I read it immediately and it freaked me out a little.

“NOTICE: WARNING ABOUT BABY CARROTS

From the Department of Life Education :
Baby Carrots

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 esthetically pleasing vegetables?

Chlorine is a very well-known carcinogen, which causes Cancer.  I thought this was worth passing on. Pass it on to as many people as possible in hopes of informing them where these carrots come from and how they are processed.”
 Confirmed by Snopes
1. snopes.com: Baby Carrots •••• http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/carrots.asp“


So of course I wanted to read more about this because it didn’t make sense to me that the FDA would allow farmers to knowingly send out their product with enough chlorine to make us and our family sick. Being the writer that I am, I thought I would share what I found because I guess this e-mail has been circulating and freaking us our for 3 years. 

The Truth:
  • Mike Yurosek came up with a device to whittle down deformed carrots to create today’s well known baby carrots.  Yurosek came up with a technique by using a potato peeler and green bean cutter to form the baby look and now the standard. 
  • According to the website for Grimway Farms of California, one of the country’s leading producer of carrots, baby cut carrots are washed in water with a miniscule amount of chlorine that produces no health risk.
  • The FDA websites regulates the treatment of “ready to eat” cut vegetables must be rinsed in water prior to bagging.
  • Chlorination is a well-known and tested way to disinfect food products. Our tap water is chlorinated as well. Chlorine kills the bacteria.
  • The white film is the carrot drying out. If you cut a regular large carrot, after a couple of days you will notice the white stuff.  It is called “white blush.”
  • At the present time there is no evidence showing that chlorine causes cancer. The Dept of Health and Services, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and the EPA have not classified chlorine as a human carcinogenicity.
  • If you are still not sure, there is a difference when buying carrots. There is such a thing of baby carrots that are harvested when they are babies. When buying carrots look at the package. It will either say baby carrots, or baby cut carrots.
  • To be on the safe side you can always wash your carrots in a vinegar and water solution that will also remove any pesticides on your fruits and veggies.
Enjoy your carrots cancer free!

Comments

  5. My Thirty Spot says

    Wow, Anonymous! It is easy to post hurtful and rude comments without your name. You obviously did not read the post and just read the title. Maybe you should actually read posts before throwing your judgement.

    Reply

  6. Anonymous says

    Thanks for your informative post. Someone posted something about it on FB and it just didn’t seem completely right. Your post was helpful in my research of this topic.

    Reply

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