Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

re: Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

tamarap — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:54:47 GMT

So out of curiosity...if the are organic are they safe to eat? i love baby carrots..you dont have to peel them and they are a great snack so if i buy organic ones they are safe right?

re: Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

healthfreedom — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 17:07:02 GMT

Although you have to be very careful about choosing the right carrots to eat, it doesn't mean choose another vegetable. Carrots are good for your vision and I'm sure a bunch of other things that I don't know about.

re: Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

Sandralee — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 22:41:26 GMT

I do not believe all 'baby' carrots are bad.

http://www.bolthouse.com/html/cs_faq_sn.html

Q. How are baby-cut carrots grown?
A. We plant seeds bred for their sweet taste, small core, and color/vitamin content. Then we harvest them while they're still young and tender. The rest of the credit goes to California soil and sunshine!

Q. Are the carrots really "baby" carrots or are they cut from larger carrots?
A. Surprise, we cut 'em! Immature carrots wouldn't have much flavor. Most of the flavor "sets" as they mature.

Q. Do you add something to make the carrots so sweet?
A. Nope, it's all natural, well, except we do have one farmer who talks especially nicely to the carrots.

Q. Are your carrots genetically modified?
A. No.

Q. Do your beverages contain any GMO's (genetically modified organisms) or GEI's (genetically engineered ingredients)?
A. No. Bolthouse Farms beverages do not contain any genetically engineered ingredients (GEI's). We only use natural ingredients which have not been bioengineered or produced with biotechnology.

re: Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

Katharine — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 14:03:32 GMT

I agree that almost all conventional "baby" carrots I have eaten are seriously lacking in flavor and many organic "baby" carrots are as well. I also suspect that most of the contamination and processing concerns expressed here have some validity. But first I would propose that we each make our own dirty dozen list before banning "baby" carrots from our diets. List the 12 most unhealthful foods that you eat and try to rank them taking pesticides, contamination potential, trans fats, preservatives and processing into account. Now, see where baby carrots rank on this list. If they aren't in the top 10 you have some work to do before tossing baby carrots.

Now, I know some people (like me, a WAHM) are in their kitchen for several hours a day already and cutting up regular organic carrots to make sticks or other snack friendly shapes wouldn't be a big deal. I know other people who will be amenable to taking a couple big carrots into work/to school with them or just pulling one out of the fridge. But many people will not be eating carrots at all anymore if they pull the "baby" carrots from their diet and even at 70% reduced beta carotene I'm not sure that I would put "baby" carrots in the same category as potato chips, doughnuts or soda as an item that no longer belongs in anyone's diet.

re: Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

sweet melissa — Wed, 30 May 2007 22:50:04 GMT

it seems that several people hear believe that organic baby carrots are good for you and although they are better than convintional baby carrots they have still been run thru some type of machine to peel them and that machine is most likely sanitized daily with isopropyl alcohol. So just because they say organic if they are prossesed in any way they are probly contaminated with some sort of chemical that you DO NOT WANT in your body. Yes It takes a few extra minutes to peel carrots but it seems way worth it to me. I eat organic carrots everyday and feed them to my children and day care kids and event with all the peeling I still find time to do other things........To qoute my Biggest Hero " I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it"

re: Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

kiddy — Tue, 29 May 2007 17:45:45 GMT

Does this include the baby carrots that are marked organic?

re: Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

scatkat — Tue, 29 May 2007 15:47:58 GMT

Tell me why the government lets these companies get away with this mis-use of our veggies in the first place.....I know that they are going and inspecting these companies selling these products to the public for eating!!........it all amazes me how these companies get away with the un-healthy processing of our foods!......and then we wonder why we have cancer on the roaring rise!!!!

re: Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

ww — Tue, 29 May 2007 14:25:22 GMT

those baby carrots can be organic. a better statement would be carrots other than organic might not be a good choice.

re: Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

Greg S — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:52:25 GMT

While I agree that eating processed "baby carrots" from WalMart is not good, the organic variety are not bad. I have always known that are not really 'baby' carrots. Organic ones can be quite tasty, while conventional ones taste horrible if they have any taste at all. While this may be an issue worthy of more awareness, I keep thinking how many people are going to turn their noses up at carrots now, and yet still are eating chips and cookies and drinking sodas on occasion?

re: Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

pinkskittles — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:51:48 GMT

i knew from the start that something about them wasn't right, and i figured that it was exactly that. thanks m for confirming my suspicions.

re: Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

Oreen_258777 — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:50:50 GMT

I was not aware of this 'baby carrot' thing until we started to go south for the winter. There was a large 'Produce' plant in the community we went to & we watched very many heaping truckloads of carrots go to that plant. Upon inquiring, we found out that this produce plant made these large carrots into 'baby' carrots. I was disgusted with the filth of the place, so quit buying 'baby' carrots. It doesn't surprise me about all the chemicals used to preserve them, either!
We grow a small garden & have carrots. To save them, we wash them, dry in the sun, put in opened plastic bags & into the 'fridge' crisper. They keep for months. They go soft on us in sand or sawdust.

re: Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

coveredmomma — Tue, 29 May 2007 11:46:58 GMT

I know this isn't quite baby carrot related but it is a question of organic produce.
Where I live there isn't any health food stores and the only organic produce is either from the supercenter or local grocery store. The few organic items are usually dollars more not just cents more. I can barely afford non-organic produce. So what is a family in my income range supposed to do?

re: Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

NZkiwi — Tue, 29 May 2007 11:40:32 GMT

I am from New Zealand (been here 5 years) and found your 'baby carrots' to have the most unpleasant taste and wondered why anyone would buy them. Now I know the story behind them and will pass this on to friends.

Love to read your comments, very informing.

re: Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

Steve M — Tue, 29 May 2007 09:38:21 GMT

In spite of the name, I never thought that these were genuine premature carrots (prolly because I'd seen the proper thing as a kid).

We've got a couple of old 4WD tyres (31x10.5R15), that instead of going to landfill, I cut the sidewalls out, put in a quality potting mix, and planted a heritage carrot seed.

The kids look for the stems that look the biggest, and pull out their choice every day or two.

Quick rinse under the tap, and they enjoy them. Probably get a few bugs to stimulate the immune system as well, as they aren't fussy washers. (Don't worry, no pesticides or herbicides in my place. Fertilisers are compost and Comfrey).

Self pick strawberries they love also, along with cherry tomatoes.

Frosts are here, so the kiwifruit will be ready soon, along with the blood oranges.

Should be an anti-oxidant rich winter

re: Hidden Story Behind Baby Carrots

www.learningtreasures — Tue, 22 May 2007 18:29:44 GMT

WOw this article floored me. I, too, am one of those moms whose kids love these things! Good grief - another "healhty" snack food bites the dust.