Don't eat the daffodils

[Johnuk123]

http://news.sky.com/story/1423059/keep-daffodils-away-from-food-stores-told

Supermarkets have been told to make sure daffodils are kept separate from fruit and vegetables to prevent customers eating the poisonous plants by mistake.

Public Health England (PHE) said people have been known to mistake daffodil bulbs for onions and the stems of a popular Chinese vegetable.

Excellent nanny state proclamation to go with all the others.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

I just heard this and thought it was another early April Fool.

 

[Johnuk123]

I just heard this and thought it was another early April Fool.

Somebody will come on here and agree with it, you just know it.

 

[Flamingo]

I know somebody who ate a daffodil bulb back in the autumn and has been hospitalised for months -

But they expect him to come out by spring....

 

[PaxVobiscum]

I know somebody who ate a daffodil bulb back in the autumn and has been hospitalised for months -

But they expect him to come out by spring....

Gosh - is that what it does to you?

 

[Oswyntail]

Somebody will come on here and agree with it, you just know it.

OK, I'll bite. What is wrong with this advice? If there is potential confusion - and there certainly is if both items are sold loose - and one has a potential danger, it does make sense for them to be kept separate (unlike last year, in my local Tesco).
Sometimes nanny really does know best.

 

[Ash Bridge]

I know somebody who ate a daffodil bulb back in the autumn and has been hospitalised for months -

But they expect him to come out by spring....

That's a blooming cracker!!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Excellent nanny state proclamation to go with all the others.

Perhaps you'd care to justify your 'nanny state' remark?

Noone - so far as I can see - is ordering the supermarkets to do anything. Public Health England has written to supermarkets to *ask* them to consider moving daffodils away from food, in order to avoid people thinking they are being sold as food, because it appears that daffodils are somewhat poisonous, and people have made that mistake.

Personally, I find it a bit surprising that anyone would make that mistake, but if people have been doing so and becoming ill as a result, and there is a way to avoid it, then writing to supermarkets to make sure they are aware of the problem seems a fairly sensible thing for a body that is charged improving public health to do.

 

[SS4]

This is hardly bad advice and what do they say about an ounce of prevention? For anyone who did eat daffodil bulbs the NHS would be obliged to treat them*. More than likely it's just a slow news day and the news need to generate their daily quota of OUTRAGE


* The money would be coming from YOUR HARD-EARNED TAXES if you want to go all Daily Mail

 

[90019]

Somebody will come on here and agree with it, you just know it.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea to have advice like this.
I mean, obviously, anyone who mistakes a daffodil for an onion must have a brain the size of a leprechaun's testicle but, like German tourists, the stupid are everywhere.

 

[gazthomas]

Bonkers

 

[Darandio]

Given that 'simple' advice such as this is becoming more regular, is there a correlation with the reduction in the average IQ of the country?

 

[SS4]

Given that 'simple' advice such as this is becoming more regular, is there a correlation with the reduction in the average IQ of the country?

A) Is it more regular?

B) If so could it be laid at the doors of a society more aware of seeking legal redress?

The headline suggests this was an order but was instead a request

 

[Deerfold]

What was this thread originally about? The original post seems to have disappeared.

Obviously something about daffodils...

 

[Paul Kelly]

This story is from three years ago and seems to explain the background quite well.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-17233766

Bristol's Chinese community is being warned not to eat daffodils after several people were treated in hospital for the symptoms of poisoning.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said the 10 people who had eaten daffodil stalks and leaves were treated in hospital for severe vomiting.

An HPA statement said they may have mistaken the green parts of the flower for a chive used in Chinese cooking.

All affected patients have since recovered.

 

[Darandio]

What was this thread originally about? The original post seems to have disappeared.

It seems that because they originally said.....

Somebody will come on here and agree with it, you just know it.

When someone did, the toys accelerated out of the baby conveyance.

 

[Zoidberg]

What was this thread originally about? The original post seems to have disappeared.

Obviously something about daffodils...

This is what it was about

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/sho...ls-to-stop-people-eating-them-shops-told.html

Move daffodils to stop people eating them, shops told

Health officials say bulbs are being mistaken for onions and stems for Chinese vegetables, telling shops to move the flowers away from food

 

[Nippy]

So you go round with your trolley, pick up food and put it in.

Then you go to another bit of the super market and pick up your daffo-onions and put them in the same trolley.

I understand now why they need to be separate on the shelves.

Oh hang on. Nope I don't.

 

[fowler9]

I would guess that most people in the UK know that Daffodils aren't food. I would expect that most foreign visitors to the country know not to just stick anything in your mouth without checking. Anyone outside these boundaries probably shouldn't be allowed out without a responsible adult.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Maybe someone better informed can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's good practice to keep fruit and veg separate from cut flowers in any case. I was told by a Spalding-based haulier many years ago that they couldn't put cut flowers in the same truck as the fruit and veg because the gases from the latter harmed the flowers and made them wilt. True, that is within the enclosed space of a truck, but it is probably still sensible advice even in a supermarket.

 

[causton]

I would guess that most people in the UK know that Daffodils aren't food. I would expect that most foreign visitors to the country know not to just stick anything in your mouth without checking. Anyone outside these boundaries probably shouldn't be allowed out without a responsible adult.

Sorry, but as someone who deals with much of the public, foreign visitors or not, if they choose what to eat in the same way they make train journeys then I'm surprised they're not all in hospital by now

Never realised this was a problem though! I mean, I wouldn't eat daffodils but I didn't know they were that bad for you...

 

[fowler9]

Sorry, but as someone who deals with much of the public, foreign visitors or not, if they choose what to eat in the same way they make train journeys then I'm surprised they're not all in hospital by now

Never realised this was a problem though! I mean, I wouldn't eat daffodils but I didn't know they were that bad for you...

Ha ha, true mate. My job is dealing with complaints from the public, I should have known better than to say what I did. The stupidity of the public knows no bounds. It is probably better for retailers to cover their ar*e.

 

[Crossover]

Well, my family have just had a delivery from Ocado which included some Daffodils - they were listed in the Fridge section, specifically as having a limited date

Maybe the warnings aren't as silly as we first thought....

 

[Busaholic]

Public Health England issued the letter after receiving 63 calls over five years from doctors/nurses concerning patients who had eaten daffodils, so it wasn't unwarranted. Different from Health and Safety and some of their ridiculous pronouncements. With the huge number of food poisoning cases in this country it could be argued that PHE should be being more proactive.

 

[Murph]

Public Health England issued the letter after receiving 63 calls over five years from doctors/nurses concerning patients who had eaten daffodils, so it wasn't unwarranted. Different from Health and Safety and some of their ridiculous pronouncements. With the huge number of food poisoning cases in this country it could be argued that PHE should be being more proactive.

Personally, I think those 63 people will find plenty of other ways of landing themselves in A&E, like running with scissors, headbutting a wall, playing football in the middle of a road (I did once report that to the police, and they were playing it in the busy street running directly along the side of the police divisional HQ / main station!), or similar.

To me, it makes as much sense as the large notices I've seen attached to scaffolding declaring "Warning: Scaffolding erected!" (I'm not kidding, some H&S person decided that scaffolding needed to carry a warning to tell you that it is scaffolding, and not a giant robot bird building a nest up the side of a building).

 

[krus_aragon]

Maybe someone better informed can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's good practice to keep fruit and veg separate from cut flowers in any case. I was told by a Spalding-based haulier many years ago that they couldn't put cut flowers in the same truck as the fruit and veg because the gases from the latter harmed the flowers and made them wilt. True, that is within the enclosed space of a truck, but it is probably still sensible advice even in a supermarket.

In my time working on the produce section of a supermarket, our flowers were delivered on stock trolleys in the same truck as our fruit and vegetables (and chilled goods, too). There is however the truth in the fact that daffodils should not share water with other flowers, as their sap is toxic to some species (tulips in particular).

Mind you, back in my day, you didn't see any retailer trying to push their daffodils in amongst the fruit and veg: they were always merchandised in the flower section at the front of store!

 

[TheKnightWho]

Given that 'simple' advice such as this is becoming more regular, is there a correlation with the reduction in the average IQ of the country?

a) The idea that people's IQ's are reducing is hilariously simplistic.

b) How do you expect people to know if we never tell them?

c) I find it ridiculous that anyone on this thread finds a problem with this.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Personally, I think those 63 people will find plenty of other ways of landing themselves in A&E, like running with scissors, headbutting a wall, playing football in the middle of a road (I did once report that to the police, and they were playing it in the busy street running directly along the side of the police divisional HQ / main station!), or similar.

To me, it makes as much sense as the large notices I've seen attached to scaffolding declaring "Warning: Scaffolding erected!" (I'm not kidding, some H&S person decided that scaffolding needed to carry a warning to tell you that it is scaffolding, and not a giant robot bird building a nest up the side of a building).

So we should just let people kill themselves by accident?

Christ, I didn't realise how full this country was of people that just assume if you're not as smart as them you don't deserve to be alive.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

a) The idea that people's IQ's are reducing is hilariously simplistic.

There are certainly some surprising instances of complete stupidity these days, though. Only yesterday I had the following e-mail exchange with my son's school:


Them: You haven't paid the £30 for the school fund this year.

Me: Haven't I? I thought I had written a cheque back in September?

Them: Can you show us the receipt for it?

Me: No, I'll have to look through my spreadsheet and the cheque stubs; you haven't ever given me a receipt for anything.

Them: We don't issue receipts.




:roll::roll::roll: #facepalm

 

[Busaholic]

There are certainly some surprising instances of complete stupidity these days, though. Only yesterday I had the following e-mail exchange with my son's school:


Them: You haven't paid the £30 for the school fund this year.

Me: Haven't I? I thought I had written a cheque back in September?

Them: Can you show us the receipt for it?

Me: No, I'll have to look through my spreadsheet and the cheque stubs; you haven't ever given me a receipt for anything.

Them: We don't issue receipts.




:roll::roll::roll: #facepalm

As Joseph Heller would say, Catch 22. Can someone come up with an icon for banging your head on a brick wall?

 

[Spamcan81]

I'm surprised the human race has lasted this long without such helpful advice in the past. Even as a five year old I knew the different between an onion and a daffodil bulb.