At the factory in Heppenheim, Hesse some 750 employees are working 24 hours a day, six days a week to insure that ice cream lovers both “big and small” have enough treats to stay cool.

Each day some 50 trucks leave the factory with the Magnum bars, Calippo push-up popsicles, and other frozen sweets – adding up to three 50-metre swimming pools worth of summer refreshment, the company said.

According to the statement, Germans are eating more ice cream this summer than they have since the blistering hot summer of 2003, averaging one Langnese bar per citizen in the sultry first two weeks of July.

“That’s a record amount,” said sourcing unit director Oliver Ackermann. “Each minute we’re producing 500 litres of Langnese ice cream at our Heppenheim factory.”

The summer heat wave of recent weeks in Germany – where air conditioning is rare – has brought sweltering temperatures of up to 39 degrees Celsius, with more highs in the mid-30s forecast for the coming week.

Click here for The Local’s weather forecast.