Imagine telling the English to lay off marmalade, the Americans to throw away their peanut butter, and the Aussies that vegemite should be banned.

France's Ecology Minister Ségolène Royal did something similar by urging the French stop eating the country's favourite spread Nutella.

As a guest on the popular television programme Le Petit Journal on Monday night, Royal was explaining how to be vigilant about the environment in reference to the climate summit in Paris this December. 

And one of these measures, she told the host, was to cut Nutella from the national diet due to its palm oil content – a controversial ingredient of the popular Italian spread.

“We have to replant masses of trees because there's been a massive deforestation, which also leads to climate change,” she said. 

(Ecology Minster Ségolène Royal. Photo: AFP)

“For example, we have to stop eating Nutella because of its palm oil, which is seeing trees getting replaced and causing considerable damage.”

Europeans love it, with the French second only to the Germans as the world's top consumers of the paste. 

The French have long had a love affair with the chocolate spread and it is the sweet and some say sickly breakfast of choice for many French school children. Around 100 million pots are devoured each year in France alone.

Indeed it's so popular that some French parents even tried to name their children Nutella, before being barred by a court.

The spread has proved controversial before, after France moved to introduce a so-called Nutella tax back in 2012, targeting any foods made with palm and other vegetable oils. The proposal was overturned soon after.

The Local has contacted Ferrero for a comment. 

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