Due to the rise of avocado-related injuries in the United Kingdom (UK), the beloved green fruit may soon be carrying warning labels. “Avocado hand” has become a phenomenon, and members of The British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons have called for suppliers to mark avocados accordingly, reported News.com.au. The publication has defined “avocado hand” as a case where a person will “seriously injure themselves while trying to penetrate avocados’ rubbery skin and remove its finicky pit.”

Aside from becoming increasingly more common, there have also been incidents of “avocado hand” resulting in damaged nerves and subsequent surgery. “Avocado hand” has become so frequent that emergency rooms have begun reporting a “post-brunch surge” of injuries on Saturday afternoons. Simon Eccles, a surgeon, has even gone on to claim that he continues to treat four patients a week for “avocado hand”. In a statement to TheTimes.co.uk, Eccles commented: “People do not anticipate that the avocados they buy can be very ripe and there is minimal understanding of how to handle them.”

On what to put on the warning labels, Eccles suggested: “Perhaps we could have a cartoon picture of an avocado with a knife, and a big red cross going through it?” Yet another advocate of avocado safety has advised including “avoca-do’s and avoca-don’ts” on the correct manner of opening up the fruit.

Until avocados enter the market with the appropriate warning labels, amateur cooks will have to make do with opening the apparently dangerous fruits without them. For anyone who wants to avoid becoming a victim of “avocado hand”, here’s a step-by-step process on how to cut and peel an avocado, courtesy of SimplyRecipes.com and TheKitchn.com.

[Editor’s note: Don’t follow the instructions below. They are overly complex. Never use a knife when your hand is in the cutting path. I honestly can’t believe people don’t know how to slice open an avocado without doing serious nerve damage to their own hand, but I will film the method I use, which is 100% safe and cannot possibly cut your hand. Watch for a video on Natural News. – Mike]

1. With one hand, gently grip the avocado on one side. Cut the avocado lengthwise around the seed, from tip to bottom, using a large and sharp knife. A chef’s knife is the best knife for the job because of its weight and proportions. Making use of a knife smaller or thinner than this could result in the knife sliding off and placing you at risk of injuring yourself.
2. Set the knife down and twist it to separate the two halves of the avocado.
3. Separate the pit from the rest of the avocado. You can either use a spoon to scoop the pit out, or you can use your knife to extricate the pit. The second method of pit removal involves whacking the pit near the heel of the knife blade until the knife has become embedded in the pit. Twist the knife to loosen it and lift it from the avocado. Push the pit off the blade with your thumb to dislodge it from your knife. For added protection, hold the pit-filled avocado half in your other, dishtowel-covered hand.
4. By this point, you have two ways of separating the flesh of the avocado from the peel. Scooping it out with a spoon is one way, and slicing the avocado into multiple segments is another.

Now you can prevent yourself from becoming another “avocado hand” statistic. Avocados are a delicious and highly nutritious fruit, and their being labelled as “dangerous” is simply something that must be noted. As Eccles himself said, “We don’t want to put people off the fruit, but I think warning labels are an effective way of dealing with this.”

Warning labels and a working knowledge of how to cut and peel avocados correctly, more like. There’s only so much a warning label can do. You also have to keep your wits about you when dealing with a knife and a fruit that requires a bit of work before you can enjoy it.

You can read up on even more food-related information from all over the world by visiting FoodSupply.news.

Sources include:

News.com.au

FoodAndWine.com

TheTimes.co.uk

SimplyRecipes.com

TheKitchn.com