Beach Beat: Avocado hand and other summer food hazards

I figure you haven’t properly celebrated a summer holiday unless you consume some potato salad and baked beans, but an increasing number of people are making guacamole a summertime tradition, and according to some doctors the trend is a dangerous one.

In an odd moment in the world of food safety, the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons recently called for warning labels on avocados. They say an increasing number of people are showing up in emergency rooms with serious cuts because they lost control of their knives while trying to get to the good stuff between the skin and stone of the fruit.

“Many cases involve serious nerve and tendon injuries, requiring intricate surgery — and even then some patients never recover the full use of the hand,” reported The Times newspaper in London earlier this month.

According to my colleagues across the pond at The Times, the situation is so serious that a term has been coined. “Avocado hand” is what they’re calling in in emergency rooms apparently.