Supermarket withdraws "anti-bird flu" water

The supermarket chain Hypernova has withdrawn bottled water claiming to prevent bird flu, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday. The water called Fromin Aktimun, made by Czech company Aquamat, comes in orange, lemon and grapefruit flavour and its label says it acts as bird flu prevention. The water was on sale at two outlets of the Hypernova supermarket chain owned by Netherlands-based Ahold until Wednesday although it had been banned by the State Agriculture and Food Inspection Office in mid-January. Experts say the only effective prevention of bird flu is a vaccine against a particular virus and they described the marketing of the product as "misleading."