People in Belgium have been warned not to eat their Christmas trees.
Authorities issued the warning in response to a suggestion people could reuse pine needles in recipes as a way to avoid waste.
Belgium‘s food agency has now issued a health warning and said people should not eat their Christmas trees.
Ghent’s local council began a campaign last week, encouraging people to recycle their Christmas trees.
One of its suggestions was to eat the trees’ conifers by making a flavoured butter from them.
“That way your Christmas tree is not 100% waste,” it said in a post on its website.
It said the recipe was inspired by Scandinavian traditions, but Belgium’s food agency suggested it was not a safe way to recycle trees.
The council has since issued its own warning, reminding the public that not all Christmas trees are edible.
“Do not confuse them with yew, which is poisonous,” it added in an update on its website.
Trees that have been treated with a fire-resistant spray and pesticides are also not edible, it warned.
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In a statement reported via Euronews, Belgium’s food standards agency said Christmas trees “are not meant to end up in the food chain”.
“There is no way to ensure that eating Christmas trees is safe – either for people or animals,” the agency said.
