What Is Activated Carbon?

Have you ever wondered how can activated carbon help when you wash vegetables and fruits? Could activated carbon really reduce contaminants and chemicals in your veggies? Let's listen to the answer from professor of Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol university.

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Activated Carbon and Vegetable & Fruit Washing.

(Translated from Thai transcript) “The guidance for using activated carbon to wash your vegetable and fruit is to use food-grade activated carbon for your own safety."

“One of the properties of activated carbon is its ability to absorb toxic which we don't want. Numerous studies have shown that it can help with wastewater treatment and also able to absorb harmful substances. In fact, activated carbon is proven to help reduce harmful substances according to the study."

“Therefore, there is a possibility to help reduce harmful chemical substances when soaking vegetables and fruits in activated carbon concentration, it can help absorb and move substance out of vegetables and fruits. Its alkalinity can also help eliminate contaminants as well."

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What are the results of the study?

“It was found that when use activated carbon to wash rose apple and guava, the contaminant was around 44-50% which was in the safe range. For Chinese kale, long beans and chili, it could also slightly reduce the contaminant levels. But, when compare to other methods, activated carbon was, by far, the most effective."

“The research was conducted by using plain tap water, Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking soda) at 0.05% and lastly, activated carbon with the concentration at 0.0125%."

Does Activated Carbon Contaminate the Vegetable and Fruit Itself?

“People may concern about some vegetables or fruits that are rough at the surface or have numerous close space inside, and that activated carbon may, instead, contaminate them. From our study, it was shown that the level of contamination is very low and in the safe level."

How to properly choose activated carbon?

When we talk about "Carbon", we often think about coal that is being sold in the market. Can we use that for vegetable wash? I am quite confused and don't know if I can pick up the right one for Mama Be. I think it's time to listen to another episode from professor of Mahidol University!

How to choose the right activated carbon