Workers at a Coca-Cola factory in southern France have found a huge stash of cocaine inside a shipment of fruit juice.

Sacks containing 370 kilos of the drug - with a potential street value of about €50 million - were discovered, local newspaper Var-Matin reported.

"You can well imagine the surprise," said a spokesman for Coca-Cola.

The staff unearthed the haul when they opened a delivery of fruit juice concentrate from Costa Rica last Friday.

They immediately alerted police and were ruled out as potential suspects.

An investigation into trafficking and importing of illegal drugs has been launched by the Marseille prosecutor's office.

The factory, situated in the town of Signes, near the Mediterranean, produces concentrates for various drinks.