Sales of real eggs were predicted to more than double those of chocolate eggs and Mrs Currie herself says that the egg industry has come full circle: "I’m quite proud of my little part in making sure that happened and I’m very glad to be able to say so. You can have your soft-boiled egg today, in Britain, provided it’s got a little Lion on. It’s safe."

Andrew Joret, Chairman of the British Egg Industry Council, is looking forward to the first Easter where consumption of eggs will be greater than when the salmonella crisis happened: "1988 was a difficult time, but one which led to the fantastic success story we have today.

"The British Lion mark has revolutionised the egg market, restoring consumer confidence and now helping generate record egg sales, year after year.

"We believe that this Easter consumption will finally get back to the levels they were before the salmonella crisis."

Latest forecasts show that Britain is set to eat a whopping 45 million eggs a day over the Easter period – a total of 180 million eggs over the holiday weekend, far more than the 80 million chocolate eggs that are predicted to be sold.