Ikea withdraws meatballs amid horsemeat scare
FURNITURE giant Ikea has withdrawn a batch of its traditional meatballs from sale in its UK stores, including its two branches in Scotland, after horsemeat was discovered in the Czech Republic.
The Swedish company, which has stores near Braehead shopping centre in Renfrewshire and in Edinburgh, insisted the product would still be available to buy in its stores and only one batch was being withdrawn as a precaution for further tests.
A spokesman said internal examinations had shown no problems up to now, adding: “Ikea takes the test result from the Czech Republic authorities showing indications of traces of horsemeat seriously.
“The concerned production batch of meatballs has been withdrawn from the Swedish Food Market in the Ikea stores.
“Already two weeks ago, Ikea Group initiated DNA analyses of all meat products in the range. Twelve tested-samples of differ- ent batches of meatballs showed no traces of horsemeat.
“To validate the results, we are now initiating further tests on the same batch in which the Czech authorities found indications of horsemeat.”
A spokesman said they were expecting test results in the coming days and will then be able to give more information.
He said: “Ikea is committed to serving and selling high-quality food that is safe, healthy and produced with care for the environment and the people who produce it.
“We do not tolerate any other ingredients than the ones stipulated in our recipe, secured through set standards, certifications and product analysis by accredited laboratories.”
The firm said it had issued “a sales stop” of the concerned batch in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, France, Portugal, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland, as well as the UK.
The meatballs were labelled as beef and pork and were in 1kg frozen packs sent to the Czech Republic for sale in Ikea stores.
The Czech Republic’s state veterinary administration found traces of horsemeat as part of its testing programme.
A total of 760kg (1675lbs) of the meatballs were stopped from reaching the shelves. The spokesman said the move did not affect the supply of meatballs to Ikea stores in the UK.
Meanwhile, a poll found onethird of mothers believe they may have unwittingly served horsemeat to their child, while just over 50% said the scandal has changed their shopping and eating habits, according to parenting website Netmums, which questioned 1293 parents.
Scottish Rural Affairs Secre- tary Richard Lochhead has backed plans to extend tests for horsemeat in processed meat products across Europe for a further two months beyond March.
The world’s largest food companies are failing to meet ethical standards, a report has warned. Leading global brands such as Nestle, Mars and CocaCola are failing to ensure the well-being of the workers who produce their products and are continuing to profit from a broken system they should be helping to fix, the study by Oxfam claims.