I cannot reveal my source but an allegedly true story has reached me that I feel I must share.
It concerns one of Tesco's top chicken meat buyers who recently pulled rank on her junior staff when the opportunity arose to visit Thailand. The main purpose was to inspect poultry farms from which the supermarket was importing chicken meat. The possibility of some off-duty hours among the shops and flesh-pots of Bankok may have been an added attraction.
However, the lady had failed to appreciate intense bio-security measures designed to stop the spread of avian flu.
At each poultry farm visited she was made to strip off all her clothes and walk through what can only be described as a sheep dip full of disinfectant. The liquid was shoulder deep and to ensure total and thorough immersion three bars had been placed at surface level under which she was forced to pass.
Even more unpleasant, as she went through the dip, was the knowledge that many others, including male and female workers, had been through the same liquid during previous hours and days.
Will this experience limit the importation of possibly flu infected Thai chicken? Will it mean fewer Tesco inspections? Should we offer our sympathy to the lady for having to endure such indignity? Or should we, on the other hand, let rip a guffaw and say it serves you right for relying on so many imports?
You may think that. I couldn't possibly comment.