Carrots and Bleach: Is It As Bad As You Thought?

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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?

Are Carrots Washed In Chlorine?

I hate to say it but, yes – from my research and understanding it is true.

In fact, many fruit and vegetables are washed in a chlorine wash that is used to remove and keep bacteria from creating a new home on our food. It is a very common practice and considered completely harmless to humans.

They are looking for alternatives, of course, but for now it is happening all over. Whether you like it or not, is up to you.

What About The White Blushing?

But there is more to it with the baby carrots.

Carrots that are peeled and turned into baby carrots have a tendency to turn white after a day or two as they dry out. When a baby carrot turns white they call this, “white blush” and often times this “white blushing” causes the bags of carrots to pulled from the shelf and thrown away. Consumer waste.  To prevent this , a rumor has been going around that the chlorine is used to prevent this. But as far as I can find online, this is not true. It is only used to keep us safe AND only on NON ORGANIC vegetables.

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, if that matters to you.

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. Anything worth buying, is worth buying as close to the source and original as possible.

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.

58 thoughts on “Carrots and Bleach: Is It As Bad As You Thought?”

  4. Carla

    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.

  5. Mommychicky

    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. Gidget

    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