Photo: Jasmin Merdan / Moment / Getty Images
A city in Belgium suggested cooking with conifer needles in its list of ways to recycle Christmas trees.
Now the country’s Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain has had to say “NO! Don’t do that!”
The agency noted that trees grown for Christmas are most often treated with pesticides and other potentially dangerous chemicals.
The agency’s statement went into more detail, saying, “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."