Ségolène Royal, the ecology minister in France, said in a television interview on Monday that the popular chocolate spread, Nutella, was bad for the environment.
She stated that because one of its main ingredients was palm oil, the food product was to be blamed for causing deforestation, which leads to global warming.
"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," the minister said, according to CNBC. "Oil palms have replaced trees, and therefore caused considerable damage to the environment," Royal added.
Her statement has earned the ire of Italy's environment minister Gian Luca Galletti and Royal's counterpart, who said that the French official should "leave Italian products alone," according to The Guardian.
Nutella is manufactured by Italian chocolate-maker Ferrero, which did indicate on its website that the sellable spread is derived from palm oil. But the company also mentioned that the palm trees they use are 100 percent sustainable, as stated on the website. The company initiated the Palm Oil Charter back in 2013 to oversee its push for "sustainable transformation."
It isn't just Italy's environment minister who reacted to Royal's comments, as other politicians from Italy also voiced their opinions.
"We grew up with Nutella and we'll never give it up," said Roberto Calderoli, an Italian senator. "If the French don't want to eat Nutella, too bad for them, they don't know what they're missing," he added, according to Telegraph.
Italy's Prime Minister's wife Agnese Renzi was also reportedly shown ordering a pancake with helpings of Nutella for Ester, her daughter, according to The Globe and Mail.
In response, Royal backpedaled on her comments to boycott Nutella on Wednesday and stated an apology on her Twitter.
"A thousand apologies for the controversy over #Nutella. Agreed, progress made should be recognized," France's ecology minister said in her native language.
