Leading UK supermarkets have removed a popular product from shelves over safety fears, while one supermarket giant has stopped selling the brand altogether.

Supermarkets including Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury’s have taken the decision to stop selling one of the most popular e-cigarettes in their stores.

Watermelon flavoured ELFBAR 600s were found to have at least 50% more nicotine e-liquid than the legal limit.

Tesco and Sainsbury’s have removed the product from shelves, while Morrisons has stopped the sale of the whole ELFBAR 600 range.

Bournemouth Echo:

A spokesman for the supermarket told ITV News: “As part of our ongoing investigation into the legal compliance of ELFBAR 600 disposable electronic cigarettes with Trading Standards, we have made the decision to remove all flavoured variants from sale.

"The products will only be returned to sale once stock that fully complies with UK legislation becomes available".

Tesco is investigating the issue with its supplier and has removed the Watermelon flavour from sale.

A spokesman said: “We have temporarily removed one ELFBAR vape line from sale as a precautionary measure, whilst the manufacturer urgently investigates these claims.”

Sainsbury’s have taken a similar move, with a spokesman telling ITV: “We are in close contact with our supplier and have temporarily removed the affected Elf Bar product whilst they investigate further.”

An ELFBAR spokesman told the Daily Mail: "We found out that some batches of the Elf Bar product have been overfilled in the UK.

"It appears that e-liquid tank sizes, which are standard in other markets [such as the US], have been inadvertently fitted to some of our UK products.

"We wholeheartedly apologise for the inconvenience this has caused.”