The Public Health Service was requested to investigate the cause of an outbreak of dermatitis occurring among workers processing carrots in a factory engaged in making ration C for the army. It was thought at first that carrots from only one state caused the trouble. Dermatitis in persons engaged in canning and processing of fruits and vegetables has been reported in the American literature.1 However, there have been no published reports of dermatitis due to the domestic carrot in the United States. In 1941 Vickers2 reported an outbreak of dermatitis in an English carrot-canning factory. He showed that it was due to a factor which could be extracted by water, alcohol, acetone and ether. CANNING PROCESS In one of the two plants investigated, the carrots were obtained from many states. After being washed with plain water, they were immersed in a 7.5 per cent