Ikea withdraws wieners from sale

Furniture giant Ikea is withdrawing wiener sausages from a number of stores, including Dublin, over concerns they contained horsemeat, just days after it withdrew a batch of its traditional meatballs.

The Swedish company said it was removing the sausages from sale in Britain, France, Spain, Ireland and Portugal and had stopped selling all minced meat products from its main supplier.

Company spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson said she would not know whether the wieners, which are supposed to be made of ground pork and beef, had also tested positive for horse meat until the test results arrived, adding “but I know that at least some of the meatballs have shown traces of DNA from horse”.

The retailer, which has stores in Ballymun and Belfast, said today it had withdrawn Familjen Dafgard's Ikea-branded wiener sausages. It has also withdrawn stuffed cabbages and veal burgers in Sweden.

"As an extra-precautionary measure we have stopped the sale of weiner sausages (hotdogs) until we have results for the tests we are performing in all our products from the same supplier," an Irish supplied statement from the company said.

"The trust of our customers are of utmost importance for us, we want to offer the most accurate information, that’s why we are taking this extra-precautionary measure for meatballs and hotdogs, both of which have been sourced from the same supplier," it said.

Tests in the Czech Republic on Monday showed a batch of meatballs from Sweden's Familjen Dafgard contained horse.

"Based on some hundred test results that we have received so far, there are a few indications of horsemeat," Ikea said in a statement. "We are now, together with our supplier and third party experts, reviewing how we can reinforce routines to avoid similar situations in the future."

Familjen Dafgard is the only Swedish firm so far to confirm undeclared horse in its meat products amid the scandal. Today it said its own tests confirmed the batch tested by Czech inspectors, and three other batches, contained horse.

All these samples contained 1-10 per cent horsemeat, said Lennart Nilsson, a veterinary inspector at Sweden's National Food Agency of the tests run by Familjen Dafgard.

The supplier said it was still trying to establish where its own meat suppliers had sourced the meat in the four batches.

Nilsson said Familjen Dafgard buys meat in Sweden and elsewhere in the EU although the meat may well originate from third parties outside the union.

Ikea stopped meatball sales in stores across most of Europe, and in Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and the Dominican Republic, all supplied by Sweden's Familjen Dafgard. No food sales have been stopped in Ikea stores that have other suppliers, such as in the United States, Canada, Russia, Australia and Japan.

Reuters/PA