European Horsemeat Problem Spreads To IKEA Meatballs

Europe’s big horsemeat scandal has continued on Monday, thanks to testing done on suppliers whose meat IKEA has bought. A batch of meatballs created to be sold at IKEA stores in the Czech Republic were found to contain traces of horsemeat. The meatballs were packaged and shipped from Sweden.

Of course, a company can’t find horsemeat and expect buyers to not be a little skeeved out. IKEA is already doing damage control and has stopped selling meatballs at all stores located in the Czech Republic. This is all well and good, but the company was later forced to announce that meatballs from the same branch were sent out to countries including the UK, the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, the Republic of Ireland, and Cyprus. While many of the meatball packages potentially containing horsemeat have already been intercepted, I wouldn’t purchase any meatballs from the outlet anytime soon. In fact, why not just skip getting meat at IKEA stores completely? I hear the household goods chain offers a pretty delicious ice cream cone.

According to BBC News, the Czech State Veterinary Administration first found the traces in the meatballs. IKEA has stated that in-house testing did not come to the same conclusions as the Veterinary Administration’s tests; however, this isn’t the first time in recent history Europe has suffered from horsemeat problems. Recently, Nestle had to recall products after traces of horsemeat were found, as well. The EU plans to take a look into the issue in the coming weeks.