Canned cow farts offer 'authentic smell of countryside'

Farting and burping cows may have been blamed for global warming but they also provide an unmistakable countryside aroma that is now being canned and sold over the internet.

Tins filled with the air sucked out of an aging wooden stable, straw lined and filled with gas producing cattle has become an instant hit after it went on sale in Germany. Managers of the "Countryside air to go" project say their clients are mainly country people who have moved to the city and want to be reminded of home.

The cans cost £5 a time and can be ordered from the web site www.stallduft.de (Barnyyard Air) "Simply put your nose to the tin and peel back the lid for the authentic smell of the country" boasts one advert for the service.

Designer Daniela Dorrer from the village of Adlkofen in Bavaria in Germany said: "We hope to make people who miss the countryside happy and remind them of home. We are planning other smells such as horse, straw, pigs and manure. But most people miss the smell of the cows in the country, not really surprising as much of the smell is from cows."