Ikea said Monday (Feb. 25) that its frozen meatball products sold in the U.S. do not contain horsemeat. Traces of horsemeat were found in Ikea meatballs and more recently, sausages, by food inspectors in the Czech Republic and sparked global attention.
The frozen meatballs were sold under the name Kottbullar and labeled as beef and pork. European countries that pulled the frozen meatballs product from their shelves include Belgium, Britain, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Portugal and the Netherlands.
Ikea spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson said that although the meatballs that shipped to the U.S. came from the same Swedish supplier, it will not issue a worldwide product recall. "Our global recommendation is to not recall or stop selling meatballs," she said, as reported by USA Today.
The U.S. division of Ikea said that meatballs sold in the U.S. come from a local supplier and confirms that the recipe contains beef and pork products only. When the contamination was found in Europe, the meat sources were mapped and tests conducted showed no traces of horsemeat.
Last week Swiss company Nestle pulled its chilled pastas, Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Torellini from supermarkets in Italy and Spain when traces of horsemeat were found during quality assurance tests.
"Our tests have found traces of horse DNA in two products made from beef supplied by H.J. Schypke. The levels found are above the one percent threshold the UK's Food Safety Agency uses to indicate likely adulteration or gross negligence. We have informed the authorities accordingly," said Nestle in a statement.
Frozen food supplier Iglo Foods Group, parent company to Iglo, Birdseye and Findus, pulled products from UK, Ireland and Belgium supermarket shelves when horsemeat contamination was found in its spaghetti Bolognese, shepherd's pie and lasagna products.
"Since the first discovery of horsemeat in some beef products produced by a number of manufactures and retailers, we at Iglo Foods Group, the parent company of Birds Eye, Iglo and Findus (in Italy only), have been checking the integrity of all our own beef products," said Iglo Foods Group in a news release.
Agriculture authorities from the European Union are working on these ongoing issues with horsemeat DNA showing up in food products.
