In March 2016, the social media sphere lit up with questions concerning the safety of consuming an avocado seed. It all began after a blogger shared a post and video about eating an avocado seed and other bloggers, food websites and online magazines weighed in on the subject. In response, dietitians and media reached out to the California Avocado Commission (CAC) for an official statement on the matter.
The Commission has never recommended consuming an avocado seed and upon further review of the information available from a Pennsylvania State University study, the Commission concluded that until further research is conducted and completed, it does not recommend consuming an avocado seed.
The Commission joined the conversation by posting a blog on The Scoop that provided further details concerning the topic and sharing an article in the Commission’s email newsletter. In addition, CAC posted information on its Facebook and Twitter pages. These posts garnered 100,000 impressions within a single week. The Scoop blog post has, to date, received nearly 10,000 visits with an average visit rate of 1,400 per day.
