Swedish retailer IKEA is withdrawing certain minced meat products from its store shelves after the tests revealed that the products contained traces of horse DNA.
The company is withdrawing Familjen Dafgard's wiener sausages from stores in France, Spain, Britain, Ireland and Portugal, as well as stuffed cabbages and veal burgers in Sweden.
IKEA spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying that the withdrawal of the sausages is a precautionary measure although it was not confirmed to contain horsemeat.
Meanwhile, Familjen Dafgard said that the company has found horse meat in four batches of frozen meatballs following its own tests.
Sweden's National Food Agency veterinary inspector Lennart Nilsson said that all these samples contained up to 10% horsemeat.
Familjen Dafgard is the main supplier of IKEA meatballs that are available at retailers across Europe.
However, the authorities in the Czech Republic noted that they found horse meat in three more batches of Swedish meatballs from Familjen Dafgard and removed the product from sale.
IKEA removed meatballs from sales in its stores across the Europe, in Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and the Dominican Republic.
