The Baby Carrots Controversy

This is an opinion editorial (op-ed) I did for one of my writing courses.

"It's not about the food; it's what we've DONE to the food!" The statement represents the topic of the ongoing heated controversy over the manufacturing of fruits and veggies. With a bag of store-bought baby carrots by my side, I have stumbled upon an article of baby carrots being advertised as the new junk food to encourage healthy eating. Earlier this year, a group of carrot farmers got together to fund a $25 million advertisement campaign aiming to encourage children to consume baby carrots as a healthy snack. Some children refuse to eat vegetables and many won’t touch a carrot unless it can be used as a sword during playtime. As an alternative, baby carrots have become a widespread snack for children and parents alike due to their sweet taste and fun shape. After all, they are not regular carrots. They are perfectly shaped to have rounded edges, they don’t have a hard and thick core, and, although peeled, they are bright orange. However, a quick Google search of baby carrot turns up some frightening information of how baby carrots are “dipped in chlorine”. So what is the deal with baby carrots?

            To resolve the debate, we need to dig up the truth on the baby carrot industry. Bob Borda, a spokesman for Grimmway Farms, the world’s largest carrot grower, says that the secret lies behind the hybrid of the carrot the company has developed by combining over 250 different kinds of carrots. According to the interview he gave to Fox News, baby carrots have been specifically bred to be sweeter, have a smaller diameter, and lack a core. Baby carrots became the fastest growing industry in late 1990’s, topping the popularity of celery and potatoes in the 2007 USDA report. Although being widely successful, the baby carrots remained a persistent topic in the controversy over how they are processed.

            In order to have a smaller, thinner size, the carrots are planted closely together and are cut into several fragments. The point and the quarter of the carrot are cut to become little baby carrots, while the central and the thickest portions are processed to make juice. Before they are packaged, the peeled baby carrots are accompanied in a chlorine bath. Chlorine, you say? The chemical used in pools we swim in?

            According to Bourda of the Grimmway Farms, the baby carrots are rinsed in a light chlorine solution to prevent food poisoning, before they are washed thoroughly in water. However, what we might be oblivious to is the fact that the chlorine bath is a standard practice used in almost all pre-cut produce. In most baby carrot manufacturing facilities, the chlorine concentration is well below the limits set out by the Environmental Protection Agency. Moreover, that amount of chlorine is closely comparable to the amount of chlorine present in your tap water. In some way, we are cooking with the exact same solution we claim to be unacceptable for baby carrots. Yet, the controversy still causes uproar amongst organic enthusiasts. They even go as far as to claim that the reason baby carrots turn white when left in the refrigerator for too long is the very result of the chlorine they absorb.

            After digging deeper into the baby carrot controversy, I still continue munching on my favourite baby carrots. The truth is that the baby carrots are no different from any other pre-packaged produce you buy at the store. Placing any peeled carrot in the refrigerator for a long time, organic or not, will cause it to develop a white outer covering as the replacement for the usual protective skin. We, as consumers, should be grateful for the fresh-to-eat alternatives presented to us in the times of need. Consumers concerned about the chlorine can just buy unprocessed carrots and peel, wash, and cut them themselves. Not before long, we might be stumbling upon blue and red carrots at our local shelves, but before that, let’s satisfy our sweet tooth with orange baby carrots.