Now this is interesting. Following the introduction of health warnings on the front of food packaging by major UK supermarkets, sales of certain products fell. In some cases, the drop was quite dramatic.

Today's Sunday Times reports that within two months of Tesco's introduction of nutrition labels, sales of Prawn Mayonnaise sandwiches have fallen 26%-37% over the past year. Sainsburys says that sales of Chicken Madras have fallen 40% since it began its labelling scheme 15 months ago. Similar declines were reported for Sainsbury's other ready meals.

While the government's Food Standard Agency has been trying to introduce a "traffic light" nutrition labelling program since 2004, individual supermarkets' efforts are having an immediate effect on customers' purchasing habits.

Other indications show that consumers are heeding the various warnings. Sales of Salmon en Croute fell by more than a third; that's unsurprising when you read that a package contains 91% of the daily recommendaded saturated fat intake. Croissant sales fell by 8%. In comparison, sales of low-fat, low-salt egg and cress sandwiches doubled.

Even though the UK's Food Standards Agency and the European equivalent has stated that it "is not aware of any reports of people getting avian flu from eating poultry or eggs and recognizes that the current risk is from people having contact with live birds that have the disease" sales of poultry are likely to plummet in the wake of the UK's first confirmed outbreak.

Supermarkets have said it is too early to forecast the impact of the virus. Sales of poultry on mainland Europe plunged by 80 per cent in the weeks after cases of avian flu were discovered in Turkey. France said last month its poultry industry, the largest in Europe, was losing £27m a month.

The risk of catching the disease comes from being in close contact with live poultry that have the disease, and not through eating poultry or eggs. Poultry can include chicken, duck, goose, turkey and guinea fowl and the like. An article in the Guardian states The government's chief scientific adviser has insisted that Britain is better prepared than any other country to cope with bird flu.

The Food Standards Agency here in the UK has advised restaurants to halt serving dishes made from raw eggs and half-cooked poultry to eliminate any risk of catching bird flu. The public is advised only to serve meat where the juices run clear and eggs that have solid whites.

These rules, following the first confirmed bird flu outbreak in Scotland, rule out the making of fresh mayonnaise and mousses with raw eggs and the serving of poultry  such as duck pink in the middle. Mousses and mayonnaise sold in supermarkets are fine as they are made from pasteurized egg which is safe.

On eggs specifically, the Food Standards Agency warned: "People should not eat raw eggs or use raw eggs in dishes that will not be cooked." Runny yolks can be eaten apparently even though the World Health Organization, has stipulated that both egg whites and yolks should be solid.

 

Hailed in some quarters, and with me, as an unnecessary 'nanny-state' imposition the planned introduction of a traffic-light system on food packaging will not be taken up by Tesco and Morrisons, two of the UK's largest supermarket chains.

The UK's Food Standards Agency has been planning for months to introduce the nationwide scheme as an easy way for consumers to check if food is healthy or harmful. I mean how difficult is it to know that chocolate coated hobnobs ain't that good for you without having to stamp the packet with a red circle? Tesco also raised concerns that things like apples - with high sugar content - would also have a red circle.

While other supermarkets such as Waitrose are (or were) planning to comply with the voluntary scheme many food producers such as Kraft Foods, Danone, Kellogg's , Pepsi and Nestle were not.