As most hot topics do, this started as an email. Recipients were warned that baby carrots, or cocktail carrots, are dipped in a bath of chlorine–as in, the liquid you use to clean your pool–for preservation before being packaged and sent off for you to eat with your lunch, in your salad and as a snack.

But that’s not all. The email claimed that the white residue, or white blush, that forms on these carrots is actually …