Mars Nederland is recalling four million chocolate bars manufactured at its factory in Veghel following the discovery of small pieces of plastic in a bar in Germany, the Telegraaf reports on Tuesday.

The products, not only Mars bars but also Snickers, Milky Way Mini, Celebrations and MiniMix, are being removed from shops, supermarkets and dispensing machines throughout the Netherlands and in 55 countries around the world, the paper reports.

All the products have an expiry date between June 19 2016 and January 8 2017.

The decision for the recall was made in conjunction with the food safety board NVWA. Consumers can return their chocolate bars to Mars for free, and the website mars.nl contains information about where they should be sent.

So far there has been no comment on how the pieces of plastic got into the chocolate bar. It is the first time Mars Nederland has had to recall one of its products.