This lovely edition is all about carrots! Carrots come in all colors, shapes, sizes and slices! There really is such an innovative market with carrots right now, with everything from carrot “chips” to rainbow carrots and everything in between. After trying rainbow carrots, I have honestly never been more excited about carrots than I am right now!
In the footage below, you get to see a mix between the traditional orange carrots and the rainbow carrots being harvested and packed at Babé Farms in Santa Maria, California.
Table of Contents
Different Harvesting Methods for Carrots
When growing for the fresh-cut market (think of baby carrots, sliced carrots, etc.), those carrots are mechanically harvested, processed and packed. However, straight-to-market carrots (as seen in the picture above) are harvested by hand.
Carrot Harvest & Packing
The fresh market process for harvesting and packing carrots is as follows.
Carrot Harvesting
- Harvest – The carrots are hand harvested. This consists of workers pulling carrots out of the ground by their stems. At the same time, they are also checking for the quality of the carrots.
- Forming Bunches – This step differs from harvester to harvester. The worker either harvests the carrots, sets them on the ground, and then forms bunches from the pile. Or, the worker harvests the carrots and forms bunches as they harvest. The goal is for the workers to form the bunches based on the uniformity of the harvested carrots.
- Truck Load – A designated worker goes through the rows to pick up the carrot bunches and takes them to the nearby truck. This is a smaller truck, as it is only transporting the carrots to a nearby washing area.
- Quality Control – After the carrots are loaded on the truck, a quality control worker goes through and checks the quality of the harvested carrots.
The carrots are then transported to the nearby packing area. This packing area is unique as it is an outdoor packing line, which is not very common.
Carrot Packing
- Wash Step – Once the carrots arrive at the washing area, they are ran through a sanitized wash using recycled/reused wash water. Since carrots are root vegetables and grow in the soil, this step is needed to remove soil from the carrot surface.
- Packing – The washed carrots are packed into boxes and are ready to be shipped to the customer.
The palletized boxes are taken to the cooler until further transport.
Food Safety Considerations
For a carrot harvesting and packing operation, some of the main food safety concerns are:
- Glove policy – Since gloves are required, there needs to be a glove policy enforced. This means that the gloves are controlled by the company, and that they are either disposable or able to be washed, and are changed out appropriately. If the gloves are washed, the company needs to control the cleaning of the gloves.
- Sanitation of the wash water – There needs to be a testing and policy in place and implemented, including with the use of a sanitizer.
- Cleaning and Sanitation of the packing operation – This includes the washing portion and the packing line. These need to be cleaned and sanitized on a scheduled basis to prevent any cross-contamination issues.
There are many more items to be taken into consideration, but this is just a brief list to get you thinking about it! Also, for carrots that are hand harvested (and not machine harvested), no harvesting tools are used so that is one less point of contact (with a harvesting tool). In this particular case, the packing operation is located outside and uncovered, so there are more factors to consider when setting up the food safety program.
Postharvest Considerations
In general, harvested carrots need to be taken quickly to cold storage and the temperature needs to be maintained throughout shipping for the optimum shelf-life. In addition, when carrots are harvested and packed with the stems on, there is extra maintenance required because those stems need to maintain green and cannot dry out in order to maintain the salability of the carrots.
Frequently Asked Questions
What type of vegetables are carrots?
Carrots are root vegetables that grow to maturity beneath the soil layer.
Where can I find rainbow carrots being sold?
They are readily available at the smaller health food stores and at some larger chains. For me personally in Southern California, they are available at ~25% of the grocery stores that I have near me. If they are not available at your local grocery store, I would recommend requesting them from your produce department manager because they are definitely worth at least a try!
How should I wash carrots before eating or cooking them?
Yes. The FDA recommends that you wash carrots (and all root vegetables) using a vegetable brush and running water. (You can click here to read about my favorite vegetable brush.)
Featured Grower Information
I would like to thank Babé Farms for the tour and for allowing me to share the gathered content. Babé Farms is located in Santa Maria, California, and they specialize in “baby” vegetables. You can see additional footage of their growing and packing processes here: radishes, lettuce harvesting machine, kale, spring mix, baby romaine, and Blonde Frisée.
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Some other articles that may be of interest:
how many days does it take to get a carrot from the ground to the supermarket?
It depends on where they are grown and where they are being shipped to. The ideal scenario for everyone is as soon as possible.