French politician suggests Nutella is destroying the planet

A senior French politician has apologised after urging people to stop eating Nutella because it is destroying the environment.

France's ecology minister Ségolène Royal attacked the popular chocolate-hazelnut spread in a TV interview with Canal+ broadcast earlier this week.

"We have to replant a lot of trees because there is massive deforestation that also leads to global warming. We should stop eating Nutella, for example, because it's made with palm oil," she said. "Oil palms have replaced trees, and therefore caused considerable damage to the environment."

Nutella is made by Italian confectionery company Ferrero, and Royal apologised after being told by her counterpart there Luca Galletti to "leave Italian products alone". For its part, Ferrero said it is committed to sourcing palm oil responsibly.

In a tweet on Wednesday Royal offered "a thousand apologies" for the controversy.

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