Clever gadget keeps sticky fingers out of your Nutella

Man Invents 'Nutella Lock' to Stop Snack Bandits

One minute, there's a nice, full jar of Nutella in the cupboard; the next, it's all gone.

The chocolate and hazelnut spread forms a magnet for children - and adults - and those sneaky dips of the finger soon add up to an empty jar.

So when German inventor Daniel Schobloch received a heart-felt plea from a friend, he came up with a way of ensuring it never happens again.

Available on eBay Germany, the solution is a transparent acrylic lock that fits over the neck of the jar. At a price of around £7, more than 1,000 have been sold so far.

"The idea started out as a joke. One of my friends was always getting worked up because his children were stealing his Nutella," Mr Schobloch tells German paper The Local.

But friends clamoured for the gadget, and, he says, "As the demand continued to grow, we decided to offer the device on eBay."

While initial stocks have sold out, customers can pre-order one of the next batch here.

But, warns Mr Schobloch, the determined Nutella thief will be able to find a way: "Acrylic is easy to break into," he explains.

The Nutella lock isn't the only gadget on the market designed to keep other people's filthy paws off your food. For those sick of their ice-cream disappearing, for example, Ben & Jerry's offers a combination lock that fits over the top of the tub.

But it's not just other people that eat sweet treats when they shouldn't, and several gadgets exist to help you restrain yourself. The Kitchen Safe, for example, has a pre-programmable lock to force you to avoid temptation till a designated time.

Of course, the Kitchen Safe can't enforce how much you eat when it finally pops open. But another product, the kSafe, aims to overcome this problem by opening only when you've reached a pre-set goal. It's hooked up to a phone fitness app, and can be set to deliver the goods only when you've walked a certain distance or burned a certain number of calories.