WATCH: Discounted Nutella turns French shoppers into hair-pulling 'animals'

Shoppers in France have been sent into a frenzy when the price of Nutella was slashed at a supermarket chain.

National supermarket Intermarché reduced the price of the popular chocolate hazelnut spread by 70 per cent from €4.50 to €1.40 on Thursday, sparking chaotic scenes in stores across the country.

Police were called in when employees failed to control the baying mob, who began fighting their way towards the coveted prize.

“They are like animals. A woman had her hair pulled, an elderly lady took a box on the head, another had a bloody hand. It was horrible,” one customer at the Rive-de-Gier supermarket in central France told French newspaper Le Progrés.

Stock at the chain was snapped up within 15 minutes, with local reports claiming one customer received a black eye in the melee.

Some stores were forced to introduce a three jars per customer limitation.

Several videos emerged on social media of the frantic behaviour, with many users in disbelief at the hype over the Italian spread.

"Seriously??!! All this for Nutella?!" one Twitter user wrote.

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Around 365 million kilograms of Nutella is consumed every year and is distributed across 160 countries, according to the BBC.

Nutella's creators Ferrero said it regretted the incidents across France but reiterated the decision to discount the product was solely Intermarché's decision.