The world’s biggest Nutella factory in Normandy has halted production after “quality defects” were found in the one of the ingredients of the famed chocolate and hazelnut spread.

Ferrero, the Italian chocolate and confectionery giant, announced on Wednesday it had decided to suspend production at its Villers-Ecalles factory in northern France, which produces a quarter of all global volumes of the spread, “as a precaution”.

The company insisted no jars of the popular spread already sold were affected and assured there would be no dearth for aficionados of the gooey paste.

"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," said its French subsidiary.

The plant in the northern Seine-Maritime department, which produces 600,000 jars of Nutella a day, was temporarily shut to conduct investigations, whose results are due by the end of the week, it said.