The editor of Waitrose Food magazine has resigned following controversies surrounding a comment he made about a “killing vegans” article.

A spokesperson for the supermarket confirmed to The Independent that William Sitwell will be stepping down with immediate effect from the role he held for almost 20 years.

"We have been informed by John Brown Media, who produce the Waitrose & Partners Food Magazine, that William Sitwell is stepping down as Editor of Waitrose & Partners Food magazine with immediate effect," they said.

"In the light of William's recent email remarks, we've told John Brown Media that we believe this is the right and proper move - we will be working with them to appoint a new editor for the magazine.

"We have had a relationship with William for almost 20 years and are grateful for his contribution to our business over that time".

Sitwell, who also appears as a critic on the BBC programme MasterChef, made the comment in response to a pitch from a plant-based food writer, Selene Nelson, who had emailed the editor suggesting a series on vegan recipes.

In his email to Nelson, which went viral after she posted a screenshot on Twitter, he wrote: “Hi Selene. Thanks for this. How about a series on killing vegans, one by one. Ways to trap them? How to interrogate them properly?

"Expose their hypocrisy? Force-feed them meat? Make them eat steak and drink red wine?”.

Speaking to Buzzfeed News, Nelson, who follows a vegan diet herself, explained that she was deeply shocked by Sitwell's response.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said.

“I’ve written about many divisive topics, like capital punishment and murder cases and domestic violence, and I’ve never had a response like that to any of my articles or pitches.

“And he’s the editor. He’s representing Waitrose and he’s talking about ‘killing vegans, one by one’?”.

At the time, Sitwell responded with an apologetic statement, saying: “I love and respect people of all appetites be they vegan, vegetarian or meat eaters, which I show week in week out through my writing, editing and broadcasting. I apologise profusely to anyone who has been offended or upset by this”.

A spokesperson for Waitrose said: “Even though this was a private email, William’s gone too far and his words are extremely inappropriate, insensitive and absolutely do not represent our views. We'll be taking up this matter with William”.

It's not the first time Sitwell has expressed animosity towards vegans.

In January, he lamented the "avalanche" of vegan cookbooks being released in an article for The Times.

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"Then, like an avalanche of Tory ministerial resignations, came the vegan snowball," the 48-year-old wrote.