Food Safety Experts: Do NOT Eat The Pumpkins You Carved This Year!
Halloween is fast approaching, with many families setting up all kinds of spooky decor around their home. Of course, the most timeless fixture of any Halloween house is the pumpkins you carve into jack-o-lanterns. But once the haunting holiday ends, what are you to do with your carved-up pumpkins, eat them?
Yes, one method of pumpkin disposal seems pretty obvious: just eat it, right? After all, pumpkin can be used for several delicious fall-inspired recipes, and it seems like an efficient, utilitarian way to get rid of your jack-o-lantern without creating waste. However, according to many health and food safety experts, you should NOT do this.
Many experts spoke with HuffPost about the dangers of consuming a pumpkin you used for Halloween. Kimberly Baker, a food systems and safety program team director at Clemson University, explains the dangers clearly. “The longer the pumpkin is at room temperature, the more pathogens that grow and can make someone sick if they were to eat the pumpkin.”
It’s also noted in the article that we rarely follow proper food-handling procedures when carving pumpkins, i.e. washing hands and using clean tools. This should be taken into consideration when deciding if you should eat your leftover pumpkin.
It also doesn’t seem to matter if you keep your jack-o-lantern inside or outside, as Baker explains. “Pathogens can come from any contact surface, inside or outside, and cause the pumpkin to become contaminated.”
However, there are certain measures you can take to make it safer to eat your gutted gourd. For instance, if you decorate your pumpkin without cutting into it – like drawing or painting its surface rather than carving – it should be ok to eat.
Another thing you can do with your carved Halloween pumpkins is save its seeds and roast and eat them. Pumpkin seeds are ok to eat if the seeds are immediately washed and/or refrigerated before consuming.
