According to the advert, you either love it or hate it. As far as Marmite goes, the Danish government hates the stuff. That at least is the conclusion that many foreigners have drawn following a ban on the sticky brown yeast extract.

The sales ban enforces a law restricting products fortified with added vitamins. Food giant Kellogg's withdrew some brands of breakfast cereal from Denmark when the legislation passed in 2004, but until now Marmite had escaped the attention of Danish authorities.

"What am I supposed to put on my toast now?" asked British advertising executive Colin Smith, who has lived in the country for six years. "I still have a bit left in the cupboard, but it's not going to last long."

Aside from inconveniencing foreigners, the ban has meant a serious economic loss for some. "Marmite was our most popular product," said Marianne Ørum, who with her Scottish partner owns Abigail's, a Copenhagen store selling foodstuffs from Britain and South Africa.

Ørum said that the order, which came by telephone from the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, was not entirely unexpected as they had previously been ordered to stop selling Australian Vegemite. "What is at issue here is that people in Denmark are not allowed to eat what they want to eat, even if it is perfectly legal to do so under EU law," said Ørum.

Marmite is not the only product to have fallen foul: Horlicks, Ovaltine and Farley's Rusks are similarly proscribed.

The ruling is not going down well with the country's substantial expatriate community – many of them work for large multinational firms such as Lego and Vestas, only to move away after a year or two.

The government has admitted it is having trouble retaining these highly skilled foreign workers, and has even debated measures in parliament to make them stay. This latest move is unlikely to help.

Recent comments from the Danish immigration minister, Søren Pind, that foreigners should "assimilate" or leave, coupled with the country's recent unilateral decision to reinstate border checks, have left some residents questioning the motivation behind the crackdown.

Lyndsay Jensen, a Yorkshire-born graphic designer in Copenhagen, despaired of the move.

"They don't like it because it's foreign," she said, adding that she already planned to send off for supplies from abroad. "But if they want to take my Marmite off me they'll have to wrench it from my cold dead hands."

A spokesman for the DVFA said he was too busy to talk about iton Tuesday.