Massive Nutella discount sends French shoppers scrambling

— -- Violence broke out at Intermarché supermarkets across France on Thursday as shoppers shoved past each other to save 70 percent on Nutella.

"They are like animals," one customer said in a story by the BBC, citing French media. "A woman had her hair pulled, an elderly lady took a box on her head, another had a bloody hand."

Ferrero, which manufactures the chocolate-hazelnut spread, told the BBC that it regretted the "riots" among shoppers but that the decision to slash the price to 1.4 euros ($1.74) from 4.5 euros ($5.60) rested solely with the supermarket chain.

According to Nutella's official website, the amount of the spread produced every year weighs as much as the Empire State Building.