[國際新聞] IKEA Meatballs Pulled After Horse-Meat Traces Found

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本帖最後由 peter236 於 2013-2-25 11:42 編輯

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323384604578325864020138732.html

Updated February 25, 2013, 1:08 p.m. ET

IKEA Meatballs Pulled After Horse-Meat Traces Found
By ANNA MOLIN And LEOS ROUSEK

STOCKHOLM—IKEA on Monday became the latest company to be drawn into Europe's snowballing horse-meat scandal, as the Swedish furniture giant said it had temporarily halted all sales of meatballs in 21 European countries to avoid upsetting customers.

The move comes after Czech food inspectors found traces of horse meat in IKEA's meatballs.

IKEA on Monday recalled a batch of meatballs that had been distributed to 13 European countries after food regulators found traces of horse meat in the meatballs at a store in Brno, Czech Republic, shown.

"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. The only exceptions are Norway, Russia, Switzerland and Poland, where meatballs are made by local suppliers and will remain available at IKEA stores there, Ms. Magnusson said.

The furniture giant earlier Monday 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 featuring concerned customers prompted IKEA to take "extra safety measures" and stop sales of all meatballs made by Familjen Dafgård and distributed across Europe, Ms. Magnusson said.

"We hope that by taking decisive action, we can show our customers that we take their concerns seriously," Ms. Magnusson said. "It's important that our customers feel safe, and if they have concerns they should contact us."

Ms. Magnusson said none of the products are harmful to eat. "This is about what it says on the label being correct."

IKEA's meatballs are said to contain pork and beef.

Familjen Dafgård said in a statement that it is investigating the situation and expects to receive test results from its own DNA analysis in the coming days.

While mostly known for its flat-pack furniture and relatively cheap home products, IKEA generated €1.3 billion ($1.71 billion) in food revenue in 2012, representing 5% of its total sales. IKEA stores typically contain a cafeteria serving fresh food and a grocery section selling food products.

Inspectors working for Czech food regulator SVS discovered the tainted products at the IKEA store in the city of Brno, 200 kilometers east of Prague. IKEA operates four stores in total in the Czech Republic, including two in the country's capital. SVS has been checking frozen meat products in the wake of recent scandals across Europe showing that some mostly beef food products contained horse meat.

Besides IKEA, the Czech inspectors have also found horse-meat samples in patties imported from Poland and marketed as pure beef pre-fried burgers, as well as other frozen precooked meals such as beef lasagna.

IKEA is currently testing samples from the affected batch to determine how much horse meat was in them. If the figure is less than 1%, the products would typically be considered to have been contaminated during the handling process rather than mixed with horse meat, and within the error margin. IKEA said the test results are expected later this week.

IKEA began testing of all its meat products about two weeks ago when the horse-meat scandal erupted. Tests on 12 samples of meatballs from different production batches had showed no traces of horse meat, Ms. Magnusson said.

The scandal over horse meat disguised as more expensive beef began in Ireland last month, when authorities found horse meat in some products labeled as beef burgers sold in some supermarkets, but it has since swept across Europe. Supermarkets in the U.K., France, Germany and Switzerland have withdrawn products including frozen lasagnas, burgers and spaghetti Bolognese meals from their shelves.

Some countries are holding emergency meetings with the meat industry to ascertain how the mislabeled products made it to store shelves. The furor has raised concerns about the complex network of slaughterhouses and suppliers that handle food on its way to the dinner table and the controls governing food transported across borders.

The affair has implicated some of the biggest food companies and meat processors in Europe, including Switzerland-based Nestlé SA, the world's largest food company by revenue, British supermarket chain Tesco PLC, and Swedish frozen food brand Findus AB. Meat processors such as Ireland's ABP Food Group's Silvercrest Foods and France's Comigel SAS have also been implicated.

Write to Anna Molin at [email protected] and Leos Rousek at [email protected]