French Environment Minister Ségolène Royal and Italian Prime Minister Renzi | EPA France and Italy in chocolate spread spat Nutella is dividing the continent.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's wife and daughter visited the Nutella stand Wednesday at the Milan Expo.

Normally, this wouldn't attract much attention.

But these aren't normal times— not when Nutella comes under attack from the French.

Two days after French environment minister Ségolène Royal warned against eating the popular chocolate hazelnut spread, the Renzis showed solidarity by doing the high-profile photo op.

The row started Monday when Royal urged the public to abstain from Nutella because it led to deforestation, a cause of global warming.

“We should stop eating Nutella ... because it's made with palm oil,” Royal told Canal+. "Oil palms have replaced trees and therefore caused considerable damage to the environment."

Her reasoning: tropical forests worldwide have had to make way for oil palm plantations, often without much care for the environment.

Royal, the French minister responsible for sustainable development and environment, struck a chord with environmentalists, for whom palm oil is a sensitive topic. Its extraction leads to deforestation, studies have shown, which impoverishes biodiversity and contributes to global warming.

Ferrero, which produces Nutella, responded by saying it's aware of the environmental stakes and has made commitments to source palm oil responsibly, AFP reported.

By Wednesday afternoon, Royal had posted a tweet offering "one thousand apologies."

Authors: