The Food and Drug Administration on Monday accused Walgreens , one of the largest drugstore chains in the United States, of repeatedly selling tobacco products to minors in violation of federal law and requested a meeting with top executives to discuss the problem.

The agency said its undercover inspection program had turned up high rates of tobacco violations at numerous retailers. Illegal sales of cigarettes and e-cigarettes to young people were even higher at other national gas station and convenience store chains, the agency found, but it singled out Walgreens for its harshest criticism.

“The company’s stores have racked up almost 1,800 violations across the country,” said Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the agency’s commissioner, in a statement. “Both the rate of violations and sheer volume of violative inspections of Walgreens stores are disturbing, particularly since the company positions itself as a health-and-wellness-minded business.”

Dr. Gottlieb said that Walgreens, one of the nation’s largest retail drugstore chains, was the top violator among pharmacies that sell tobacco products, with 22 percent of more than 6,350 stores the F.D.A. inspected having illegally sold them to youth .