Now that the last of the decorations and wrappings have been cleared away, the all important evaluation of the Christmas toy sales can take place and the cycle begins again with the round of toy fairs in Hong Kong, London, Nuremburg and New York.

But inevitably, this year perhaps more than any, it will happen under a prevailing cloud of concern caused not just by the uncertainty created by a global recession, but primarily about whether customers in 2009 will treat the entire toy industry as having been blighted by recent safety issues arising from the 'Made in China' label.

History records that a prevalent concern in medieval times which had to be continually addressed by authorities governing fairs and markets, was the selling of contaminated products. One might have been forgiven for thinking over the last two years that in some ways little has changed.

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