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You're rustling up some baby carrots and find they're covered in white stuff — should you keep going... or run for the hills?
Transcript
00:00You're wrestling up some baby carrots and find they're covered in white stuff.
00:04Should you keep going, or run for the hills?
00:07Mom?
00:08My potato is eating a carrot!
00:13That's it!
00:15If you've ever arranged a crudité board, snacked on hummus, or had a child under the
00:20age of 12 living in your household, you've more than likely handled your fair share of
00:24baby carrots.
00:25The ultimate in snacking convenience, especially when you're looking for a healthier nosh,
00:29baby carrots are typically sold in plastic bags in your supermarket's refrigerated produce
00:34case.
00:35When you've purchased baby carrots, you've likely noticed that they often don't look
00:38purely orange, but instead carry a white film on their surface.
00:42After being cut, baby carrots are washed in a diluted chlorine bleach solution, which
00:46the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends as a food safety measure.
00:51As a result, rumors have sprung up that this white film is visible chlorine, with some
00:55suggesting it's even a reason to avoid baby carrots altogether.
00:59As it turns out, the white film you sometimes see on baby carrots isn't chlorine, mold,
01:03or any other substance that would be unsafe to eat, but rather a completely natural phenomenon
01:08known within the fruit and vegetable industry as carrot blush.
01:11Do you know what a present is, Terry?
01:14I care about my friends.
01:16Now eat your carrots, or I'll rip your tiny head off.
01:20No, no!
01:21Sometimes seen on full-sized skin-on carrots as well, carrot blush is a result of the packaged
01:26root vegetables losing moisture over time.
01:28From the day of harvest until the day you pack them into your refrigerator.
01:32As the surface of the carrot is exposed to air, thereby drying out, it becomes rough,
01:37causing any light that hits the carrot to become scattered and give off a white or off-white
01:41appearance.
01:42Also, as baby carrots jostle together during packing, shipping, and storing, cells on the
01:48surface of the vegetable can become damaged, which helps create that somewhat unnerving
01:52white appearance.
01:54You might already know this, or you might not, but baby carrots aren't even a natural
01:59product themselves.
02:00They're not actually baby carrots, they are pieces of carrots cut into two-inch pieces
02:05and peeled and put in the bag.
02:07Sure, you can yank carrots out of the ground when they're underdeveloped and they'll be
02:10baby-sized, but that wouldn't be a very cost-effective strategy for big companies.
02:15Instead, they make baby carrots by trimming larger carrots with mechanized processing
02:20equipment.
02:21These smaller carrots are a way to cut down on food waste by utilizing gnarled carrots
02:25that wouldn't sell well or using up bumper crops of carrots before they go bad.
02:30Because all that extra surface area is exposed to air throughout the production and shipping
02:34process, carrot blush sets in on the baby varieties more often than it does on full-sized
02:40carrots.
02:41But never fear, restoring the cute veggies' appearance is a simple matter of soaking them
02:45in cold water for a few minutes to add back some of the moisture they've lost.
02:49If the carrots still appear white after their bath, the white film is likely due to cellular
02:54damage.
02:55Either way, both causes of carrot film are benign, and the vegetables are totally safe
02:59to eat.