The slimy crooks nabbed 450kg of top-quality snails from L’Escargot des Grands Crus in Bouzy, a village near Reims in the historical region of Champagne.

Shell-shocked owner Jean-Mathieu Dauvergne said the stolen goods amounted to the farm’s entire “end-of-year stock” – enough for 10,000 meals.

The farm supplies eateries such as the two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Reims hotel Les Crayères.

Another gourmet restaurant, in Tours-sur-Marne, has said it will be forced to remove escargot from its menu if the farm can no longer supply them.

Mr Dauvergne said: “It’s incredible [for the thieves] to have stolen so much. It must be for a very well organised network.”

Police, however, are on the trail of the stolen gastropods, which officials stressed are “worth almost as much as champagne”.