J. Sainsbury on Friday unveiled plans to keep food supplies moving, and the BBC to keep information flowing, as employers stepped up preparations for an expected second and more serious wave of swine flu.

The supermarket chain outlined contingency plans to keep stores open if 25 per cent of its 150,000 staff are absent. Working from a “bunker list” first compiled during the fuel protests of 2000, it also plans to release extra supplies of bread, milk, sugar and baby food from depots if panic buying breaks out.