Horse meat has been found in IKEA meatballs manufactured in Sweden. The meatballs were reportedly made in Sweden and shipped to the Czech Republic.
DNA testing on the meatballs resulted in evidence of horse meat in the product, which was labelled as containing “beef and pork.” The testing was conducted by The Czech State Veterinary Administration.
A spokesman has stated that the meatballs were tested before distribution to consumers at the IKEA stores. It is not known whether similar meatballs containing horse meat were shipped to IKEA stores in other countries. As reported by The Guardian , IKEA stores get their meatballs from a single supplier.
IKEA sell the Swedish meatballs, called kotbullar meatballs, in restaurants located inside their famous furniture stores. There are IKEA stores in 41 countries worldwide including Canada and the US.
The European horse meat scandal continues to wreck havoc world wide. Horse meat was originally found to be in lasagna products manufactured by Swedish company Findus. The product was labeled as containing beef but was found, through DNA testing, to contain horse meat.
As reported by CNN , Fundus obtained their meat from Comigel, who shipped meat that was reportedly labelled as beef or pork to food producers and retail outlets across Europe. The meat reportedly made of horses.
Findus CEO Jari Latvanen blames Comigel for the scandal:
“We are only at the beginning of our legal process. Comigel will end up in a lot of legal processes going forward, I imagine. Comigel is the villain.”
Companies in France, Ireland, and the UK have taken the initiative to test all products labeled as “beef” in an effort to halt distribution of mislabeled products. Several products tested, including lasagna and hamburgers, were found to be composed of 30 to 100 percent horse meat.
Other countries, including the Czech Republic, have begun testing of meat products, which lead to the discovery of the horse meat found in IKEA meatballs.
[Image via fotopedia]
