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Japanese specialty store Kinbashi have come up with a new and novel dining accessory – gold flake chopsticks.

According to market trend researcher C Scout Japan, loose flakes of gold are pressed between the disposable chopsticks.

When the sticks are snapped apart, a flurry of edible gold rains down onto the dinner plate to provide a decorative touch to your meal.

The flakes are composed of 94.4 per cent pure gold.

Reportedly, it costs 4,515 Japanese yen (£19.54) for two packages of five sets of the wooden chopsticks.

Edible gold is not a new concept – Goldschlager, a cinnamon-flavoured Swiss schnapps, contains small flakes of gold and last year the Independent reported that a marmalade containing gold flakes had been released for sale – but gold allergy sufferers are advised to take caution.

According to the US National Centre for Biotechnology Information, if a person is known to suffer from an allergy to gold jewellery, ingesting gold flakes can trigger a similar allergic reaction in the body.

© 2007 Adfero Limited