The department responsible for food safety in Belgium was forced to issue a bizarre warning amid reports of people eating their Christmas trees.
The country's Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain responded quickly to the city of Ghent's recommendation to cook with pine needles as one of the ways to recycle Christmas trees. City officials said "In Scandinavia, they have been doing it for a long time: picking the needles from the branches, briefly immersing them in boiling water, pouring them through a sieve and drying them on a clean cloth. Once the needles are dry, you can make delicious spruce needle butter with them for bread or toast."
The food safety commission warned that Christmas trees should not become part of the food chain, explaining that most of these trees have been treated with pesticides and flame retardant, which can cause serious illness and even death of consumed. In response to the warning, the city of Ghent revised its recommendation to read, "not all Christmas trees are edible." (EuroNews)
