Twelve tons of KitKat chocolate bars are missing after thieves made off with the truck transporting them, Swiss food giant Nestle said Saturday.

KitKat, which is made by Nestle, said the truck carrying 413,793 bars of its new range set off from central Italy to distribute the chocolate throughout Europe, but never reached its scheduled final destination in Poland.

The vehicle and the merchandise remain unaccounted for. Nestle did not reveal where exactly the truck was lost.

In a separate statement, KitKat said the missing bars are traceable via a unique batch code. Anyone scanning the batch numbers of the stolen chocolate would receive instructions on how to contact KitKat.

“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,” a spokesperson for KitKat said.

“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.”

Last year, Nestle unveiled plans to cut around 16,000 jobs around the world, as it turned to automation to help reduce costs.

The boss of the consumer goods giant said it needed to “change faster” and secure its future “as a leader in our industry”.

The reductions would include around 12,000 “white-collar professionals” across business functions and geographies.

This was expected to save the company around one billion Swiss francs (£940 million) each year by the end of 2027.

It was also targeting a further 4,000 job cuts across its manufacturing and supply chain.

Nestle, which also makes household food brands such as Nescafe and Cheerios, has about 277,000 employees in countries across the world.

Philipp Navratil, Nestle’s chief executive at the time, said: “The world is changing, and Nestle needs to change faster.

“This will include making hard but necessary decisions to reduce headcount over the next two years. We will do this with respect and transparency.

“The actions we are taking will secure Nestle’s future as a leader in our industry.

“Collectively, they will enable us to improve our overall performance and deliver shareholder value.”