IKEA meatballs found to contain horse meat
A picture taken on February 29, 2012 shows the front of the Ikea store on February 29, 2012 in Lomme, northern France. IKEA plans to begin selling entertainment units with built-in TVs in France beginning this summer.
The international horse meat saga continued on Monday, as it was revealed that meatballs from IKEA – everyone's favorite Swedish purveyor of inexpensive furniture – contained some horse meat.
IKEA immediately halted the sale of all meatballs at its Swedish outlets, wrote the Associated Press, after Czech authorities analyzed the foodstuff and determined it contained horse as well as beef and pork.
Swedish news outlet The Local wrote Czech inspectors issued their findings to the EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed. It didn't take long for others to pull their meatballs from sale; the BBC reported Monday that IKEA stores in 14 countries had stopped selling them.
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According to Reuters, the Czech analysts found horse meat in burgers that had originated in Poland, as well.
"We'll almost certainly discuss the need for parties in the chain to also carry out inspections so that it's not only the official inspections that are carried out," Swedish minister of agriculture Eskil Erlandsson told the Local.
"The production chain also has a responsibility, especially retailers, which are closest to the consumers."
European Union trade ministers are currently convening in Brussels to discuss the snowballing European horse meat scandal, wrote the BBC, and will likely be discussing ways to improve the food supply chain in their respective nations.