Juul, headquartered in San Francisco, launched in the UK in July this year

Last month, Juul hit the headlines after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) showed up at the start-up's headquarters

Vape firm Juul unveiled its first supply deal with a major UK supermarket - Sainsbury's ( ) - which will see its best-selling US products on the shelves in around 1,400 of the UK stores.

Juul, which launched in the UK in July this year, says it's furthering its ambitions to help the UK’s 7.4 million smokers switch from conventional cigarettes.

Of the 1,400 outlets, 282 will stock JUUL within a dedicated space on the shop floor, the firm said, while the remaining will have the products behind the counter or via the kiosk.

“Our mission is to improve the lives of millions of British smokers," said Dan Thomson, UK managing director for JUUL.

"Until now, JUUL has been available in the UK from vape stores and online, so this is a ringing endorsement for our product from a major UK supermarket and will allow us to reach a wider audience of smokers, to help them to switch."

While smoking rates are falling, there are currently still 7.4 million adult smokers in the UK.

Last month, Juul hit the headlines after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) showed up at the start-up's headquarters in Silicon Valley to seize "thousands of pages" of marketing material.

In a broader move, the FDA had earlier threatened to pull certain electronic cigarettes from shelves if firms like Juul did not address concerns around teenage use.

And this week, the FDA reportedly said it will unveil “forceful” steps in mid-November to cut down on youth use of e-cigarettes, potentially including increased enforcement of identification and age verification requirements.