The latest consumer scare story – killer cereal boxes – provokes the usual outbreak of hyperbole and blood curdling headlines.

Yes, the press will get you even after it has been recycled from fish and chip papers to today’s environmentally friend recycled cardboard for our over packaged breakfasts. The villain is mineral oil, which apparently can turn gaseous and penetrate the inner linings of our health giving porridge. Watch out in case your spurtle starts to disintegrate.

Has Jordan’s got in early in crisis communication by announcing that it will now go in for using virgin material for its packaging? It certainly has done that and for a small company got quite a lot of headlines. So far, so good(ish). But hang on a minute.

Some parts of the media have actually put out quite a lot of non-lurid material that puts this into perspective. The research that sparked the story comes from Switzerland.

Our own Food Standards Authority is aware of the issue and doing its own research, but is not raising warning flags at the moment. The Food and Drink Federation (aim off a bit, it is the trade apologist) has been quite measured.

Kelloggs says it is looking for cardboard that doesn’t have newsprint in it.

It also turns out that it doesn’t matter that the cardboard is recycled, the mineral oil can have the same impact on virgin material. So it is the ink that’s the problem not the recycling aspect.

Where does that leave Jordan’s?

Plus points – they have got publicity, they will try to go to sustainable sources for packaging, their customers may feel that the company cares (so long as they don’t delve below the headlines and see that at the moment this is a flaky story).

Minus points – this is an overreaction, you worry your customers (if it is that serious why don’t you recall all your product from the shelves?) and there simply isn’t enough virgin material to make up for all the recycled stuff.

Perrier and Tylenol rightly received plaudits when they cleared their shelves of contaminated goods. Jordan’s has contaminated the value of a product scare response by over egging the pudding and it hasn’t even gone the whole hog of a shelf clear.

It will be interesting to see if Jordan’s actions increase its sales. Or will the British public continue to exercise its normal, common sense approach and form a view about packaging when we hear from our own authorities?

One thing is for certain – the Swiss report will have concluded with these famous words ‘More research is required’.