The recall was due to a "compliance issue" in Norway, Finland and Sweden.

In many cases products have to conform to different regulations in Europe to North America and, according to Sazerac, the wrong product formula was shipped to Northern Europe.

A statement from Sazerac said: “Late last week Sazerac was contacted by its European bottler regarding a small recipe related compliance issue in Finland.

“The recipe is fully compliant with all US and Canadian rules and regulations and always has been.  Given the explosive growth of Fireball we started receiving strong demand from Europe.

“One ingredient was found to be out of compliance with European regulations.  Finland, Sweden and Norway have asked to recall those specific batches, which is what we are doing.”

The ingredient in question is propylene glycol, which Sazerac claims is “a regularly used and perfectly safe flavouring ingredient”. 

The company said it had  learned of “efforts to spread incomplete or misleading information about this event to our valued customers in North America” and warned it would “respond forcefully to any such activity, and will pursue its legal remedies to the fullest extent of the law should the activity continue”.