Ikea pulls meatballs from UK stores after horse meat discovery

The meatballs have been pulled from stores in 14 European countries including the UK, France and Portugal.

Ikea said it had not discovered any horse meat during internal tests on its food products carried out two weeks ago but said new tests would now be carried out.

Ikea said: “We do not tolerate any other ingredients than the ones stipulated in our recipes or specifications, secured through set standards, certifications and product analysis by accredited laboratories.”

EU agriculture ministers have met in Brussels today for talks expected to focus on the horse meat scandal.

The original purpose of the meeting was to discuss support for rural communities and the common fisheries policy however ministers are expected to try to come up with measures to tackle the growing amount of horse meat found in food products including proposing a pan-European labelling project for frozen food.

The BRC said it will take discoveries of horse meat in processed beef products into account as part of a review of its accreditation standard given to suppliers. The last edition of the standard was issued last year and the next is due in two years time.

Shore Capital analyst Clive Black said: “It is difficult to be too presumptuous at this stage about how the next phase of the crisis will pan out as much more testing is commencing and will continue. However, after the second phase of the Food Standards Agency’s mandatory testing regime, there are perhaps grounds to believe that the dust may be settling for the UK supermarkets and elements of its supply chain.

“As such, our central expectation is that the initial waves caused by the scandal will now level out and so will trade patterns by category and supermarket. So, we do not expect wholesale adjustments to buying behaviour by consumers nor shifts in procurement patterns for reputable suppliers.”

Swiss food giant Nestle said today the horse DNA found in its meat was from the Spanish supplier Servocar.