Morrisons has apologised after labelling a chicken product as containing “non-EU salt and pepper”.

Shoppers complained on social media over the packaging for the salt-and-pepper chicken crown, which also features the Union flag and highlights that it is made from “British chicken”.

The company immediately backtracked over the “error”, describing it as a mistake during the labelling process.

Morrisons tweeted that “the wording on the packaging is an error for which we apologise”, and told customers it was changing the packaging immediately.

A spokeswoman for the supermarket chain said: “Our chicken label is adhering to British packaging regulations, however, we will be redesigning it to make it clear this is not a political commentary.”

It came after a raft of tweets from customers who accused the company of “anti-EU bias” and threatened to stop shopping at Morrisons.

One Twitter user, David Bright, said: “I’m done with shopping @Morrisons … I can live with Union flags on bananas, but the gratuitous slight on the EU is too much.”

Another, Robin Wilton, tweeted to describe the packaging as “small-minded” and “populist-pandering bigotry that’s just cost you a customer”.

According to Government guidance, meat packaging where full country information is not available must use the term “non-EU” to describe its origin.

From October next year, this will be replaced by “non-UK” after post-Brexit rule changes.

The furore comes a week after Morrisons moved into private hands, following its £7 billion takeover by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R).