Swedish furniture chain IKEA is the latest company to be drawn into Europe's snowballing horsemeat scandal, having temporarily halted all sales of meatballs in 21 European countries to avoid upsetting customers.The move came after Czech food inspectors found traces of horse meat in IKEA's meatballs."We've decided to stop all sales of meatballs in most European countries in order to not create worries for our customers pending the results of our own tests," IKEA spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson said.
Most of IKEA's meatballs sold in Europe are produced by a single Swedish supplier, Familjen Dafgård, which hasnt been implicated before in the scandal The only exceptions are Norway, Russia, Switzerland and Poland, where meatballs are made by local suppliers and will remain available at IKEA stores there, Magnusson said.
The furniture giant had already pulled a batch of frozen meatballs tested horse-positive by Czech authorities and marketed as Köttbullar from all countries where they had been sold: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, France, the U.K., Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland. But a social media storm on Twitter and other network sites prompted IKEA to take "extra safety measures" and stop sales of all meatballs made by Familjen Dafgård.
While mostly known for its flat-pack furniture and relatively cheap home products, IKEA generated EUR 1.3 billion ($1.71 billion) in food revenue in 2012, representing five percent of its total sales. IKEA stores typically contain a cafeteria serving fresh food and a grocery section selling food products.
As for Familjen Dafgård, it said that it is investigating the situation and expects to receive test results from its own DNA analysis in the coming days.
