Italian chocolate and confectionery giant Ferrero announced on Wednesday it had decided to halt production at its Villers-Ecalles factory in northern France “as a precaution”. 

According to the multinational behind the world’s most popular chocolate and hazelnut spread, there is no need for consumers to throw away Nutella jars or other Ferrero products they’ve already bought.

“For now, we can say that no product currently on the market is affected by the situation and that the supply to our customers continues uninterrupted,” Ferrero’s French subsidiary announced.

The temporary shutdown will enable investigations to be carried out, the results of which will be known by the end of the week.

The food manufacturing plant in France’s northern Seine-Maritime department produces 600,000 jars of Nutella a day, a quarter of the global output.

The announcement comes after quality control officers identified a defect in one of the ingredients used in Nutella spreads and Kinder Bueno chocolate bars.

“This defect doesn't meet our quality standards, so we've made the decision to temporarily suspend production at the factory.”

Let's hope the factory can find the problem as soon as possible because we know what happens when the French can't get their hands on a pot of their beloved Nutella.

In January last year scuffles broke out in supermarkets as customers fought to get their hands on discounted pots of the spread.

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• What the great Nutella riots of 2018 tell us about the French