The country’s food agency warned against using evergreens in food after the city of Ghent suggested an unusual form of recycling: spruce needle butter.

Christmas trees are not supposed to end up on your dinner table. Well, if you were thinking otherwise, Belgium’s food agency has issued a warning asking people not to eat conifers

Asked what they thought of the idea, the reply from Belgium's federal agency for food chain security, AFSCA, was a resounding "No". "Christmas trees are not destined to enter the food chain," it said in a statement.

A day after Belgium warned against eating Christmas trees, Swedish officials said that the needles can be safely used to make butter and other products -- as long as the trees are young and wild. But Anneli Widenfalk,

Belgium is warning its citizens not to eat their leftover Christmas trees after local authorities told citizens that the trees' needles could be used in meals.