Francesco Rivella

(Co-)inventor of Nutella died at the age of 97

Today, Ferrero is a huge company with an annual turnover of more than 18 billion euros that sells its products in almost every country in the world.(Bild: AFP )

In the early 1970s, Francesco Rivella and Michele Ferrero jointly developed a spread called Supercrema in the small northern Italian town of Alba in Piedmont, which conquered the world from 1964 and was later called Nutella. Rivella died on February 14 at the age of 97 - exactly ten years after Ferrero's death.

Rivella, a food chemist, had previously worked as a food chemist for the Ferrero Group and was considered Ferrero's right-hand man. Together they developed the composition of Nutella, which became a global success.

Francesco Rivella(Bild: Represented by ZUMA Press, Inc.)

In northern Italy, people had already started using ground hazelnuts instead of cocoa powder in the production of confectionery in the 19th century. This resulted in brown nougat cream, for example in the form of gianduiotti chocolates. The raw mixture was then also available to buy in stores as a spread. Together with Ferrero, Rivella finally filled the mixture into jars.

1964: The recipe was improved and the first edition of a new hazelnut and cocoa-based cream went on sale. From 1965, Nutella was bottled in the now iconic bulbous jar.(Bild: nutella.com/it/)

Supercrema became Nutella
In the early years, the nut nougat cream was still called Supercrema. The breakthrough came with the enforced renaming in the 1960s, because since then nothing can be sold in Italy with the label Super. Nut- stands for nut, -ella is one of the classic Italian endings.

Every year, 500,000 tons of Nutella are produced.(Bild: Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg)

Rivella remained loyal to Ferrero throughout his life
As Technical Director, Rivella was also involved in the development of other products such as "Mon chéri" and "Kinder Schokolade". Throughout his life, he never worked for another company. Rivella retired in 1993. He is survived by a daughter and three sons.

Synonym für Nuss-Nougataufstriche

72 Stück Würfelzucker pro Glas: Über Nutella

• Nutella has long since become synonymous with nut and nougat spreads of all kinds. In Italian delicatessens, but also in many supermarkets in other countries, there are dozens of different varieties on offer: the more nuts (Nutella: 13%, others also 51%) and the less palm oil, the more expensive. 

• After years of criticism, Ferrero claims to only use palm oil from certified sustainable production. However, environmentalists continue to make accusations.

• According to estimates, around a quarter of the world's hazelnut production is used for Nutella. The company has always remained silent about the exact composition. 

• Nutritionists point out that a 400 gram jar contains 72 sugar cubes.