The Czech State Veterinary Administration said that horsemeat was found in one-kilogram packs of frozen meatballs that had been made in Sweden and had been labelled as beef and pork.
IKEA spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson said meatballs from the same batch had gone out to Slovakia, Hungary, France, Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland.
Ms Magnusson was keen to stress however that the contaminated batches of meatball had been stopped from going on the shelves and that all other meatball mixture shipped to places like the United States and Australia were unaffected.
“Our global recommendation is to not recall or stop selling meatballs,” she said.
Despite Ms Magnusson’s words though IKEA Sweden have reportedly stopped selling or serving meatballs out of concern for, according to the companies Facebook site; “potential worries among our customers.”
For whatever reason though IKEA have seen no reason to extend those precautions beyond it’s stores in Sweden.
IKEA Australia spokeswoman Angela McCann said Australian stores were in “no way involved”.
“The meatballs sold here in Australia are 100 per cent Australian meat, and therefore IKEA stores throughout Australia are not affected and will continue to sell meatballs,” she said, with a decidedly long face.
A bit like the joke where the horse walked into a bar… And somehow wound up in the $10 steak and mash special.
Image: Getty
