The origin of the baby carrot

Tag : carrot

Do you ever wonder where those little nicely peeled carrots inpackages come from? Do they grow that way? Does someone take timeto peel each one by hand? They are not cocktail carrots, but babycut and peeled carrots. They are not from large, deformed, crockedcarrots put in machines to make them small carrots. Only a fewvarieties are chosen and grown especially for cut and peel babycarrots. Most varieties grown for juice or regular cello bagcarrots are not good enough to meet the high quality standards forthis cut and peel process. The criteria are that they must be smallin diameter, straight growing carrots and naturally sweeter inorder to be great tasting healthy snack food. These carrots arewashed, topped, tailed, sized, cut to uniform length and sortedbefore they are peeled to get any deformed, oversize and rejectcarrots out of the process. The tumbling peeling process is whatgives them that rounded end look. The peeling process is set toremove a minimal amount of peel in order to maximize shelf life andrecovery. The peel removed is usually much less than you wouldremove with a knife if you were peeling regular carrots. Aftervegetables are peeled, which would include these carrots, theybegin to dehydrate and are subject to the natural process ofoxidation (the combination of a product with oxygen). Cut andpeeled carrots are packed wet to preserve shelf life. Water issometimes injected into the package to keep them fresh longer. Oncepeeled, these carrots are usually hydro cooled in local municipalwater. The local cut and peel carrot plant uses Chatham- Kentmunicipal water, the same water you and I drink. The chlorine levelrequired to wash and hydrocool these carrots is actually lower thanthe level of chlorine that you may find coming out of the averageChatham-Kent water tap at times. This is particularly true whenhigher levels of chlorine are required in municipal water to ensurethat we have safe drinking water. Food-grade chlorine may beperiodically added as required if the municipal water source fallsshort of the level required for food safety purposes. There aregenerally no preservatives added to this product other than goodsanitation and refrigeration programs. Processed or frozenvegetables are very safe because of the freshness and food safetypractices in place, particularly in Ontario food processingfacilities. As a consumer, it is important to know where your foodis from and how it is grown. Buying Ontario and locally grown foodproducts is a way to ensure you are eating safe, healthy foods. Weshould not risk our health with the food we eat. One key to foodsafety is the care we take in preparing the food. We often exposeour vegetables and other food items to improper storage andrefrigeration and improper food safety practices in our kitchens.This can lead to exposing our food to either decay, E. coli orsalmonella. Common sense goes a long way. Think about this -- Youcannot arrive at your life's purpose by starting with yourself.Look to God. Just some food for thought. Kim Cooper has beenworking in the agribusiness sector for over 30 years. He can bereached at kim.e.coop er@gmail. com Chatham Christian Schools........................................................ CHATHAMCHRISTIAN SCHOOL has openings for enrollment in J.K. through Grade8 CHATHAM CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL has openings for enrollment inGrades 9 through 12 Registration August 25th through August 29th *9am-2pm SCHOOL STARTS TUESDAY, SEPT