In Stabroek, Antwerp province, the newly arrived Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn banned school children from the store, after local kids got involved in an egg fight. That might seem reasonable (not least to those who’ve ever tried to clean up broken eggs) but not to Bruno Vanobbergen. He’s the Flemish commissioner for children’s rights, and he says that Albert Heijn is guilty of age discrimination.

Of course, he told De Standaard, egg fights are not acceptable behaviour in a supermarket. But the best approach would be for AH to “get around the table” and talk it through with the youngsters. “Above all, this is unenforceable,” he pointed out. “A shop worker is not allowed to demand an identity card.”

Retail federation Comeos, meanwhile, has a different view: “A supermarket is private property, and, as an owner, you’re allowed to refuse access to anyone.”

Anyone, for example, like the shopper in a Colruyt store in Averbode, Flemish Brabant, who was also shown the door last week. The man was ejected for having spent two hours partaking of all the samples on offer around the store. “He was making a meal of it,” a Colruyt spokesperson said. “The other customers were becoming upset.”

Luckily for Colruyt, the man restricted himself to coffee, alcohol and sweets. It could have been worse: Also last week, Colruyt staff in two locations in Flanders discovered packages of cocaine hidden among shipments of bananas. Fortunately the discovery was made in distribution centres, and not a store.