Thieves in Germany steal five tons of Nutella

Thieves in Germany stole five tons-worth of Nutella, police have said.

The thieves stole seven palettes of Nutella jars Photo: ALAMY

German police said the hazelnut chocolate spread was taken from a parked semi-trailer.

The theft of seven palettes of Nutella jars, worth a total of about 16,000 euros (£13,600), took place at the weekend in the city of Niederaula in the central state of Hesse, said police.

Thieves in the region have previously stolen other large quantities of food products, including five tons of coffee worth 30,000 euros taken in March and 34,000 cans of an energy drink in August.

The site of the thefts, northeast of Frankfurt, is near a road transport hub where truck drivers living in the region tend to park their lorries at weekends, said a police spokesman.

Last month, Columbia University in New York City denied its students had been stealing as much as $5,000 worth of Nutella from its dining halls.

Last year, Malaysia's official Palm Oil Council denounced a French move to slap a 300 per cent rax rise on palm oil - a key ingredient in Nutella.
"The proposal is based on inaccurate claims that palm oil is bad for health and nutrition, and that Malaysia does not respect the environment," the council said.
It insisted that palm oil is "a healthy, natural and important product which 240,000 small farmers in Malaysia are proud to produce" and urged the French government to reject the call for a tax increase.