Belgian food safety authority: Do not eat Christmas trees

Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Belgium's food safety agency issued a warning to residents to not turn their Christmas trees into food after a city's recycling recommendations included using the needles in recipes.

The Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain made the statement in response to the city of Ghent recommending cooking with conifer needles in its list of ways to recycle Christmas trees.

"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," Ghent's website reads. "Once the needles are dry, you can make delicious spruce needle butter with them for bread or toast."

The FASFC responded by warning residents that Christmas trees "are not meant to end up in the food chain."

The agency explained that trees grown for Christmas decorations are most often treated with pesticides and other potentially dangerous chemicals.

"What's more, there is no easy way for consumers to tell if Christmas trees have been treated with flame retardant -- and not knowing that could have serious, even fatal consequences," the agency said in a statement provided to Euronews. "There is no way to ensure that eating Christmas trees is safe -- either for people or animals."

Ghent edited the post on its website after the warning, changing a heading from "eat your Christmas tree" to "Scandinavians eat their Christmas trees" and including a warning: "not all Christmas trees are edible."