Make sure you take some ID with you when you want to buy your favourite tipple at the supermarket. Tesco has just announced that it will tighten its procedures by introducing Challenge 25 in May.

Challenge 25 is to be rolled out to all Tesco stores, following in the footsteps of Asda and Morrisons, which have both introduced the policy over the course of the last year in an attempt to stamp out underage sales. Sainsbury's is due to introduce Challenge 25 in September.

Last week, Tesco, who operate a Challenge 21 policy, was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £250 costs after a Blackpool store admitted it has sold alcohol to children on more than three occasions.

In the UK we currently have the following laws in place regarding the purchase and consumption of alcohol by minors:

• It is illegal to give an alcoholic drink to a child under five except under medical supervision in an emergency.
• It is legal for adults to buy alcohol for children over four to drink in the home.
• At the age of 16, young adults can drink beer, wine or cider with a meal in a restaurant, if it is bought by an adult and they are accompanied by an adult.
• By the time they reach the age of 18, they can buy alcohol and drink it in a pub. They can even hold a licence to sell alcohol.

From 2010, the Identity and Passport Service will begin offering identity cards on a voluntary basis to young people who will benefit from them in their daily lives. Are we going to see students and young professionals rushing to get one of these cards so that they can buy alcohol unchallenged when they go to the supermarket?

Do you believe that our current alcohol laws are outdated? Should our laws be updated to curb underage drinking?