Eating vegetables is extremely important for people of all ages, and carrots are a great example of a vegetable that is almost universally loved. Baby carrots in particular have become a popular snack, especially with children. What you might not know, however, is that these delicious veggies might not be so good for you after all.
The original idea for baby carrots came after a farmer realized he was throwing away too many shorter, less strong carrots that he couldn’t send to grocery stores. He decided to peel these small carrots, shave them to a small bite size and market them as a snack-sized carrot.
Nowadays, however, baby carrots are much different than the ones that were originally sold. These days, most baby carrots are bathed in chlorine before being packaged so that they are clean of any germs that get on to the equipment that shaves and cuts them.
It’s important to look out for any evidence that your baby carrots have been washed with chlorine, and avoid them at all costs. Look for ones that are natural and you won’t need to worry – instead, you can take advantage of all the benefits of these delicious, nutritious carrots.
Many readers said they were unaffected by the fact that some baby carrots were bathed in chlorine, and said they’d eat them anyway.
“Not gonna stop eating baby carrots because of this!” one Newsiosity reader commented on the site’s Facebook page.
“Nothing is wrong with eating baby carrots. They are made from whole carrot that don’t grade out to be sold. Nothing wrong with them except the grower would have to discard thereby losing money,” another added. “A farmer devised a way of cutting the whole carrots into equal sizes and selling them as baby carrots. They are still safe and great to eat even though they may be slightly less nutritious. Good video just not the whole truth.”
In related news, an interesting figure was released from New Zealand showing that carrot prices increased by 50 percent from the year before. The cause of such an increase was likely a smaller yield due to weather.
Carrot grower Sue Deadman said she hadn’t seen such a small yield in a long time.
“We sometimes get patches where it’s quite damp … but this year it was consistently wet and you might have got the odd fine day in between,” she told Stuff.co.nz.
Some readers questioned the price jump and how it was related to a smaller stock.
“How is pushing the price of basic food staples helping anyone other than the growers. It is already hard enough to get good fruit and veges cheap enough to feed families. I know that we fund the export markets for a lot of our produce. This is usually the better quality stuff, and it goes directly overseas, with a very cheap price. In a city in germany you can pick up lots of kiwi apples, kiwifruit, and other produce for about 10c per kg….yes 10c so how come we cant. I like to feed my family fresh fruit and veges, locally grown if possible, but sadly its getting harder to do. I will be going to frozen soon if this trend keeps happening,” one reader commented.
Sources: AWM America, Newsiosity/Facebook, Stuff.co.nz / Photo credit: AWM America
