This trend draws inspiration from labneh, a soft Middle Eastern cheese made by straining yogurt.
If you’re not lactose intolerant, this yogurt trend is considered safe to consume.
However, the same cannot be said about a new food fad involving a vegetable.
As the festive season wraps up, there’s a good chance you were urged by your mom to eat Brussels sprouts during your holiday meals.
Traditionally, Brussels sprouts are steamed or boiled, but a new trend involves eating sprouts, particularly Alfalfa sprouts, raw.
According to a food scientist known as @hyroxide on TikTok, consuming raw sprouts is considered ‘very, very, very, high risk’.
“Foodborne bacteria are your besties on spring break,” she explained.
“They want to go somewhere hot and moist, and they are thirsty. So, sprouts are basically grown in the ground in the warmest, most moist humid, wet environment that you can imagine, and guess what? Bacteria love it.”
Typically, cooking vegetables (or any food) eliminates harmful bacteria, but consuming raw sprouts may expose you to these risks and potentially lead to illness.
The scientist mentioned: “Unless you’re blanching them or cooking them into submission, like, the sprouts you get with pho that usually come raw – I do not touch those.”
Even handling raw sprouts can be risky.
“When you are handling high risk food that is carrying all that moisture, it could get on all your kitchen supplies as well and your counters and your sink and lots of other things,” the food expert explained in her video that’s been viewed over six million times.
In summary, you have a good reason to avoid eating raw sprouts.
Cooked sprouts, however, are generally safe—unless you’re in space, that is.
Reportedly, astronauts are prohibited from consuming these tiny green vegetables due to the unpleasant odors they can produce.
Beyond the smell, such odors can also pose a fire risk in space.
As a result, baked beans, cabbage, and broccoli are also excluded from the space menu.