Elf Bar vapes removed from supermarket shelves after illegal nicotine levels found

Elf Bar vapes have been removed from major supermarket shelves after being found to be 50% over the legal nicotine limit.

The vapes have been taken off the shelves after the company admitted to ‘inadvertently’ selling products in the UK with legal levels of nicotine in them, a Daily Mail investigation has revealed. The disposable ELFBAR 600s were found to have at least 50% more than the legal limit for nicotine e-liquid.

Chinese vaping giant Elf Bar ‘wholeheartedly apologised’ after independent lab tests by the Daily Mail found its ‘600’ line of its disposable e-pens were at least 50% over the legal limit for nicotine. Experts described the findings as ‘deeply disturbing’ and warned of a risk to young people illegally using the vapes, which are sold by major supermarkets.

UK supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons stores, did stock the vapes but most have now confirmed that they have removed them. According to ITV, a Tesco spokesperson said: “We have temporarily removed one ELFBAR vape line from sale as a precautionary measure, whilst the manufacturer urgently investigates these claims.”

Sainsbury’s followed suit with a spokesperson saying: “We are in close contact with our supplier and have temporarily removed the affected Elf Bar product whilst they investigate further.”

A Morrisons spokesperson said: “We are taking this very seriously and we can confirm that we’re working closely with ELFBAR and Trading Standards to investigate this further.” With Asda confirming that they were ‘working with the supplier to investigate the matter’.

It is illegal for under-18s to buy vapes but with the brightly coloured packaging, a variety of flavours and sweet smells, it is no surprise they have become popular amongst young people.

A survey carried out by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) found that in 2022, 15.8% of 11-17 year olds had tried vaping, compared to 11.2% in 2021 and 13.9% in 2020. ASH also found that in 2022, 7.0% of 11-17 year olds were current users, compared to 3.3% in 2021 and 4.1% in 2020.

A Department for Social Care spokesperson stated that ‘local enforcement agencies’ are responsible for the regulation of such products.

They added that these agencies also have a duty of ‘taking action’ against non-compliant products including products that ‘do not comply’ with the 2ml nicotine limits.