The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Avocado injuries cost ACC almost $70,000

By Amy Wiggins
NZ Herald·
16 May, 2017 12:42 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Jamie Oliver demonstrates how to remove an avocado stone safely and efficiently. YouTube / Jamie Oliver

Avocado-cutting injuries cost ACC almost $70,000 last year and figures show the number of people slicing themselves while trying to prepare the fruit has increased over the past three years.

As the popularity of avocados has increased, so too has "avocado hand" - stabbed or slashed hands from trying to cut the fruit.

Last year ACC received 162 claims for injuries involving avocados, up from 137 in 2015 and 118 in 2014.

The cost of those claims to date has risen accordingly. Last year ACC paid out $68,589 and in 2014 the figure was $54,945.

An ACC spokesman said the figures were collated by searching for the word avocado in the "what you were doing" section of claim forms but, because the level of detail provided could vary greatly, the data could not be presented as definitive.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Last week the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons called for safety labels on the fruit to help reduce the number of people needing hospital treatment.

Former president of the plastic surgery section of the Royal Society of Medicine, Simon Eccles, told the Times he treated about four patients a week with avocado hand at Chelsea and Westminster Hospitals in London.

"People do not anticipate that the avocados they buy can be very ripe and there is minimal understanding of how to handle them," he told the Times. "We don't want to put people off the fruit but I think warning labels are an effective way of dealing with this. It needs to be recognisable. Perhaps we could have a cartoon picture of an avocado with a knife, and a big red cross going through it?"

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Often the injuries involve serious nerve or tendon damage, which requires surgery.

Even celebrities are not immune to avocado hand.

Meryl Streep was seen with her hand bandaged in 2012 after cutting her hand while chopping up an avocado.

Kiwi singer Brooke Fraser also had surgery on her hand after slicing it while cutting an avocado in 2015.

Discover more

Business

NZ avo shortage a dog's breakfast: grower

23 Jun 01:52 PM
New Zealand

Avocado injuries cost ACC more than $800,000

14 Jan 07:03 PM

She posted a photo on Instagram of her during surgery saying: "For everyone who's been asking, I was cutting an avocado a few days ago when the knife slipped and kinda sorta went through my hand."

"Had successful surgery today to repair the nerve I severed so I WILL be able to play music again!"

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver also tweeted about avocado hand last week urging people to "just put it on a board" and sharing a link to a 2010 video of him explaining how to prepare an avocado.

C'mon guys! No more #avocadohand... just put it on a board!!! 🥑 🔪https://t.co/zJmkxFQDz2 pic.twitter.com/X9Fdr1quPa

— Jamie Oliver (@jamieoliver) May 11, 2017

His advice is to put the avocado on a board, rather than holding it in your hand, before trying to ram a knife into the stone.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from The Country

The Country

'Rusty but running': 1940s bulldozer still going strong

20 Jun 05:00 PM
The Country

One dead, three injured in Central Otago ATV accident

20 Jun 02:29 AM
The Country

Tonnes of promise: Angus Bull Week set to make millions

20 Jun 12:00 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

'Rusty but running': 1940s bulldozer still going strong

'Rusty but running': 1940s bulldozer still going strong

20 Jun 05:00 PM

Robin Hill retired at 58 and began collecting tractors, including a 1940s Fowler VF.

 One dead, three injured in Central Otago ATV accident

One dead, three injured in Central Otago ATV accident

20 Jun 02:29 AM
Tonnes of promise: Angus Bull Week set to make millions

Tonnes of promise: Angus Bull Week set to make millions

20 Jun 12:00 AM
Premium
50 years on the ice: How an Olympic gold medal kickstarted a couple's business

50 years on the ice: How an Olympic gold medal kickstarted a couple's business

19 Jun 11:00 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP