As the German government holds 'mad cow' crisis talks in Berlin, fast food chain McDonald's has launched a burger made entirely out of pork in a bid to protect its sales there.

The McFarmer burger, which is unique to Germany at present, will be promoted by its local roster agency, DDB worldwide-owned Heye & Partner Munich, via a TV and radio campaign.

McDonald's move to sell pork burgers comes as German consumers become increasingly concerned about eating beef.

Although there have only been eight reported cases of BSE since 1997 compared with 11,030 in the UK, there has been a fall in demand for beef products since the first German BSE case was reported on November 24.

When the UK BSE scare was at its peak in the mid-90s, McDonald's was forced into PR crisis management but did not launch the pork burger here.

MPs are today questioning health and agriculture ministers about allegations that the German public has been misled over the safety of beef.

Before Christmas McDonald's embarked on a massive ad campaign in Italy to allay public fears over beef safety, despite no case of BSE being reported there.