“Eat your Christmas tree” – the unusual request from the city of Ghent to its residents at the end of the Christmas period has brought the Food Safety Authority (AFSCA) into action in Belgium…
There is “no guarantee that Christmas trees will be safely consumed by people or animals,” the authority said on Tuesday. Regarding the likely use of pesticides during cultivation, the authority warned: “Don’t eat your Christmas tree.”
The background of the initiative in Ghent was not so much about culinary aspects as about recycling advice: the website of the city in Northern Belgian Flanders, which is considered a stronghold of climate protectors, enthusiastically referred to examples from Scandinavia. It was proposed, among other things, to peel, blanch and dry the needles to use them, for example, to make flavored butter.
Not intended to enter the food chain
The AFSCA apparently didn’t like the idea much. “Christmas trees are not intended to enter the food chain,” the agency said in a statement. There are many reasons not to “promote or support the reuse of Christmas trees in the food chain.” In addition to the pesticide treatment, the authority also cited the difficulty in detecting the use of flame retardants in Christmas trees as another reason. This could “even have fatal consequences”, the authority warned.
The Ghent city council apparently heeded the warning and subsequently revised the information on its website. Now the headline is no longer ‘Eat your Christmas tree’, but rather ‘Scandinavians eat their Christmas trees’.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
