Are Baby Carrots Actually Dangerous?

Are baby carrots safe to eat? INSIDE EDITION uncovers the secrets and rumors about the popular snack that are sweeping America.

Everyone loves baby carrots, but are they safe?

There are rumors all over the internet warning that baby carrots are a "danger to your family," that they're made from "deformed full-sized carrots", and that they're "soaked in chlorine."

They also claim that the white film that forms on them is actually "the chlorine coming to the surface." People everywhere are worried.

"Actually once I heard that, I stopped buying baby carrots," one person said.

Another person weighed in, saying, "That makes me really uncomfortable, I wouldn't personally buy them and I have a small child. And I buy everything organic actually."

But those reports about baby carrots being dangerous are just not true. We spoke to food expert Vani Hari, of foodbabe.com at the Institute for Culinary Education in Manhattan.

INSIDE EDITION's Paul Boyd asked, "So this made it out like these baby carrots are soaked in chlorine and permeating chlorine in your refrigerator. Not true?"

"It's not true," Hari said.

It turns out baby carrots are washed in a chlorine-water solution, but it's a safe amount approved by the FDA.

"The reason they do it is because they want to have it for safety. If they have any food-born illness like ecoli or salmonella growing in a bag like this, and someone eats it, that's a real concern," Hari said.

Baby carrots come from regular carrots, not "deformed" ones. The carrots are then cut down to cocktail size and spun in machines that peel and rotate them to give them that nice rounded shape everyone likes.

Next, they're washed before being sealed into snack bags.  

And that white film that carrots take on after you open them is not chlorine, it's what naturally happens when carrots dry out.

But with all those bogus rumors about baby carrots, the Food Babe now fears Americans will be setting aside this healthy snack and reaching for junk food.

"I don't want people going for a bag of chips over a baby carrot. Baby carrots are absolutely nutritious!" she said.