The horse meat found in IKEA Swedish meatballs was discovered in the Czech Republic where one single package of the traditional Swedish dish was determined to contain the meat in addition to the pork and beef on the label. The results of testing by Czech State Veterinary Administration were released on Mon., Feb. 25, 2013, reported Yahoo! News.
That sole 2.2 pound package caused a whopping 1,675 pounds of the product to be rejected for sale on store shelves in the Czech Republic, and IKEA has decided to halt the sale of the meat dish in Sweden. However, the retailer has recommended that its non-Swedish locations continue selling the food as usual despite the horse meat found in IKEA Swedish meatballs.
Meatballs from the same tainted batch that contained the horse meat was also sent to locations in the following countries: Slovakia, Hungary, France, Britain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland.
The horse meat found in burgers and other foods for sale overseas poses no health risk. The strange ingredient was initially discovered in burgers for sale in the United Kingdom and Ireland in mid-January. Several stores had meat that tested positive for horse DNA: Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland.
Just two weeks later, Burger King admitted to the presence of horse meat in its burgers, including the world-famous Whoppers, in its United Kingdom locations, but it didn't end there. Horse meat in lasagna was found in 11 of 18 meals sold and tested by Findus, a frozen food company in the United Kingdom. The company pulled its frozen meals from store shelves. The unsavory ingredient reportedly made up 60-100% of the meat in the products, but the U.K. Food Standards Agency wouldn't specify which brands, if any, contained 100% horse.
The horse meat found in IKEA Swedish meatballs is the latest in the food scandal, which seems to be isolated to the United Kingdom and other European countries.
Thus far, meat sold in the United States has not been determined to be affected, and the horse meat found in IKEA Swedish meatballs did not impact those sent to locations in the United States despite having been produced by the same Swedish manufacturer, family-owned Gunnar Dafgard AB, that supplied the tainted product.
Comments