Mothers, or Fathers, who are looking for ways of shortening preparation time of vegetables in cooking, find the pre-cut, pre-packed vegetables in small plastic transparent bags very convenient. It's like no more peeling, paring and slicing, you only have to wash them well then pour into whatever dish you are cooking. The pre-sliced vegetables may cut short preparation and cooking time, yes, but! Before you buy them, here's something that all parents, should know specially the mother. The Bureau of Plant Industry through its laboratory services recently came out with its finding that the vegetables sold in such packaging contain "sodium meta bi-sulfide". What exactly is sodium meta bi-sulfide? It is a chemical that vendors dissolve in water and they soak the vegetables in this solution to make the vegetables look clean and fresh. Now how do we find out that the pre-cut vegetables were soaked in that solution? We all know that vegetables once they are cut begin to discolor. Take a fresh eggplant, cut it in half and observe its inner portion change color as it remains exposed .

Despite being sliced, vegetables soaked in sodium meta bi-sulfide solution do not show any sign of discoloration. Shrewd vendors normally cut the spoiled or rotten portions of the vegetables like eggplants string beans, and squash, so that the vegetables do not have to be totally thrown away. To make the remaining portion retain its fresh looking state(as opposed to being fresh) these are soaked in sodium meta bi-sulfide solution before they are packed in plastic containers.
The harmful effect of sodium meta bi-sulfide according to Dr. Viginia T. D. Pacaba "Once this chemical is ingested or taken more than the tolerable levels(based on U.S ratings, its 10 part per million) and the person who took it has asthma it will aggravate his condition." Sodium meta bi-sulfide is an allergy causing chemicals. Pre-cut, pre-packed vegetables are normally found on side walk.