12t of KitKat chocolate bars have disappeared while being transported in Europe, Nestlé has confirmed.

The Swiss-headquartered company said that a truck carrying 413,793 units of its new KitKat chocolate range was stolen.

The shipment disappeared last week while en route between a production site and distribution locations.

After leaving Italy, the bars were to be distributed throughout Europe with the route eventually due to end in Poland.

According to KitKat, the vehicle and its contents "remain unaccounted for".

The company added that investigations are ongoing "in close collaboration with local authorities and supply chain partners".

Chocolate

KitKat now believes the missing chocolate "could enter unofficial sales channels across European markets".

The company said that "all products can be traced using the unique batch code assigned to individual bars".

As a result, consumers, retailers and wholesalers will be able to identify if a product is part of the stolen shipment by scanning the on-pack batch numbers.

In a statment, a spokesperson for KitKat said: "We’ve always encouraged people to have a break with KitKat - but it seems thieves have taken the message too literally and made a break with more than 12 tonnes of our chocolate".

"Whilst we appreciate the criminals’ exceptional taste, the fact remains that cargo theft is an escalating issue for businesses of all sizes.

"With more sophisticated schemes being deployed on a regular basis, we have chosen to go public with our own experience in the hope that it raises awareness of an increasingly common criminal trend," they added.

A recent report from the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) and the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) EMEA, outlined a rise in cargo theft and freight fraud, with more sophisticated methods of deception becoming increasingly common.