Cocktail Carrots? Are they good for you?

[Acre of Blessings]

Got this in an e-mail today and I thought I might pass it on. It's about those baby carrots a lot of us buy for convenience. I always wondered what that white stuff was on them little things. Now I know.

---------- Forwarded Message ----------

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
=2
0 them (this is the same
chlorine
used your pool) since they do not have their skin or
natural
protective covering, they give the m 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 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.
Please let us make this in formation available to
as many people as
possible.
If
you care about your family and friends, pass it
on.

 

[Rosalind]

It's not chlorine. It's just the carrot drying up a bit. When they dry out they lose color on the surface if they haven't got any peel to hold it in.

My carrots from the garden do the same thing when I pre-cut them for bag lunches. I don't dip them in the swimming pool, and we filter our water.

Furry and/or slimy carrots, those you have to watch out for.

 

[moodusnewchick]

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

checked out an online rumor source. seems like the chlorine part is true, but the white is dehydration.

 

[Msbear]

We are exposed to so many toxins throughout our day here on this polluted world that I try to shield my family from as much of it as possible. The chlorine may be "harmless" but I think no chlorine is ALWAYS better

Besides, you are paying for all that dipping and clipping and packaging. I buy 5lb. bags of organic carrots and it's soooo much cheaper than the baby ones. It saves to buy in bulk as well and carrots last for eons in my crisper

 

[tvtaber]

I always thought those tasted funny... glad I grow my own.

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, they just dry out. But on chlorine. That's a good part of what they put into city water to keep it clean. Once, a sewer line was accidentally put into the water line and people only found out because white stuff built up in their ice machines... that was TP. Nobody got sick because the chlorine killed off the bacteria... Yuck! I usually boil water to drink but that habit was picked up from my mom who grew up in china and nobody drinks from the tap...