Ikea latest to be caught up in horsemeat scandal

Ikea is the latest company to be caught up in the horsemeat scandal after it was forced to withdraw a batch of its meatballs due to the presence of horse DNA.

The ever-widening crisis meant the affected product — available for retail purchase but not in the in-store restaurants — were removed from the shelves in 13 European countries, including the Dublin and Belfast stores.

The affected batch of meatballs was produced for Ikea in Sweden and came to the company’s attention two weeks ago when the Czech state veterinary institute reported finding horse DNA in frozen meatballs labelled as containing beef and pork to the EU’s rapid alert system for food and feed.