Ikea horsemeat scandal in Czech republic

This 26 February 2013 video from the USA is called Horse Meat Found in Ikea Meatballs.

From the BBC:

5 February 2013 Last updated at 13:00 GMT

Horsemeat found in Ikea meatballs in Czech Republic

Ikea has withdrawn meatballs for sale in much of Europe after Czech inspectors found traces of horsemeat in a batch manufactured in Sweden.

The discovery comes as European Union agriculture ministers meet in Brussels for talks widely expected to focus on the growing horsemeat scandal.

Czech officials said horse was found in “beef and pork” meatballs in the UK, Netherlands, Portugal and others.

The scandal began with frozen meals and burgers in the UK and Ireland.

Since the first horsemeat was discovered last month, traces have been found in food across the EU.

Supermarkets across Europe have had to withdraw affected prepared meals from their shelves.

Ikea’s announcement came after some 760kg (1,675lb) of the Swedish-style meatballs were intercepted and stopped from reaching Czech shelves, according to the Associated Press.

Horsemeat was also found in beef burgers imported from Poland, the Czech State Veterinary Administration said.

In a posting on it’s Swedish Facebook page, Ikea first confirmed it was halting all sales of meatballs at its stores in the country.

Shortly afterwards, the company announced that the affected batch of Swedish-made meatballs had been sold in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal and France.

Ikea insisted that it had not found any horsemeat during in-house tests on its own range of food products, carried out two weeks ago, but said new tests would now be carried out.

Related articles

• Horsemeat found in Ikea meatballs (guardian.co.uk)
• Horsemeat Found In Ikea Meatballs In Czech Republic (businessinsider.com)
• Horsemeat found in Ikea meatballs: report (thelocal.se)
• Horsemeat Scandal Taints Ikea’s Legendary Swedish Meatballs (gizmodo.co.uk)
• What’s Swedish for horse? Ikea meatballs latest product drawn into horse meat scandal (mirror.co.uk)
• ‘Horsemeat meatballs’ labelled as beef and pork (itv.com)