Denmark on Saturday became the first country in the world to impose a fat tax after a week in which consumers hoarded butter, pizza, meat and milk to avoid the immediate effects. "We have had to stock up with tonnes of butter and margarine in order to be able to supply outlets," Soeren Joergensen of Arla Distribution said.

The new tax, designed by Denmark's outgoing government as a health issue to limit the population's intake of fatty foods, will add $2.87 per kilo of saturated fats in a product. This means an increase in the price of a pack of 250gms of butter, for example, by $2.20.

"It has been a chaotic week with a lot of empty shelves. People have been filling their freezers," Christian Jensen of an independent local Copenhagen supermarket said.

"But actually I don't think the tax will make that much difference. If people want to buy a cake, they will buy it. But right now they're saving money," he added. The new tax will be levied on all products including saturated fats - from butter and milk to pizzas, oils, meats and pre-cooked foods - in a costing system that Denmark's Confederation of Industries (DI) says is a bureaucratic nightmare for producers.

"The way that this has been put together is an administrative nightmare, and I doubt whether it will give better health. It's more just a tax," DI foodstuffs spokeswoman Gitte Hestehave said. She said that setting prices on domestically produced or imported goods was complicated, as it required declarations from producers both as to how much saturated fat was in the product itself, and used in its preparation.

Computer systems all had to be adjusted, adding many man-hours to administrative tasks for producers and sellers. "Products that include other products that include saturated fats also have to have new prices worked out. Imported goods require a declaration from the producers abroad on exactly how much saturated fat has been used in production," Hestehave said.

"As far as we have been able to determine, Denmark is the first country in the world to introduce a fat tax but we know that other countries are following us closely and have their own plans," she said. The new Danish tax, however, may not last long. EU legal expert Jeppe Rosenmejer says the European Union is currently studying the tax as there may be a competition issue. "It will mean that imported goods will be cheaper than domestically produced items," he said.