Sensitization Dermatitis to Carrots

Abstract

In our experiences with employees processing a variety of vegetables, carrots are outstanding as a cause of sensitization dermatitis. The cutaneous allergenicity of carrots is not apparent from the meager number of reports in the literature. As later discussed, this capability is to be suspected since carrots belong to the Umbelliferae family, of which many members are dermatitis-producing. Peck, Spolyar, and Mason¹reported 17 women, employees in a canning factory, whose dermatitis of the hands was attributed to carrots. These authors pertinently state that although dermatitis in persons engaged in canning and processing fruits and vegetables had been reported in the American literature, there had been no published reports of dermatitis due to the domestic carrot in the United States. The only report they quote is that of Vickers,²who reported seven women with dermatitis from carrots in a canning factory in