Dubai: Swedish meatballs at Ikea’s company stores in the UAE do not contain horsemeat from a tainted batch of the foodstuffs in Europe, an official told Gulf News from Ikea Group offices in Sweden.
Following the discovery of horse DNA in a batch of Ikea meatballs in the Czech Republic produced by a Swedish meat supplier, Ikea pulled its fare across Europe.
Ikea spokeswoman Ylva Margusson said on Tuesday that the Swedish supplier does not ship its meatball products to Ikea stores in the UAE.
“The suppliers in Sweden do not deliver to Dubai so Dubai is not affected,” said Magnusson.
Meatballs were being served on Tuesday at the Dubai Ikea company store where employees assured one customer that the meat was prepared according to halal standards.
In a press release, the IKEA Group said it “has taken an extra-precautionary measure by issuing a temporary sales stop of meatballs in parts of Europe.
The sales stop concerns meatballs manufactured by one supplier in Sweden and applies to all European countries except for Norway, Russia and a limited number of products in Switzerland and Poland.”
“We take seriously the test result from the Czech Republic authorities, indicating presence of horsemeat in one batch of our meatballs. Already two weeks ago, IKEA Group initiated DNA analyses of all meat products in the range. Twelve tested samples of different batches of meatballs showed no traces of horsemeat. We expect the test results at the end of the week to confirm that there are no indications of horsemeat in the meatballs,” Ikea said.
