Dubai: IKEA’s popular almond cake has been confirmed to contain coliform bacteria and has been withdrawn from its stores in 23 countries, including the UAE.
The bacteria scare comes close on the heels of the horsemeat scandal that forced the Swedish furniture giant to withdraw meat balls from its restaurants last week.
The coliform bacteria known to be found in human faeces and sewage, was traced by Chinese authorities in November. According to reports the quarantine officials in China destroyed almost two tonnes of almond cake with chocolate and butterscotch produced by a Swedish firm Almondy.
IKEA UAE has confirmed with Gulf News that it has withdrawn sales of almond cake with chocolate and butterscotch produced for the restaurant after traces of coliform bacteria were found in two isolated production batches of the product by Chinese authorities.
“Traces of coliform bacteria have been found in two isolated production batches of almond cake with chocolate and butterscotch, produced for the restaurant, from one supplier in Sweden. There is no health risk associated with consuming this product. The production batches have, as per safety and quality routines, been tested for bacteria that can cause health issues, such as E.coli, and none of these pathogen bacteria have been found,” an IKEA spokesperson said in a statement.
The countries affected by the scandal are Australia, Russian Federation, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Taiwan, Slovakia, Sweden, Romania, UAE, Poland, Norway, Hungary, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, China, Bulgaria and Austria.
The spokesperson insisted there is no health risk in the product, but IKEA is trying to ascertain from the supplier as to how the bacteria entered the product.
However, he added that concerned customers can, as always, return their products to get a refund.
He affirmed that bacteriological tests are continuously performed on all their food products. “All production batches of our cakes have been tested for E.coli and salmonella at the suppliers, including these batches. No indications of these kinds of bacteria have been found.”
Last week, the company had to withdraw meatballs from its restaurants in 24 countries for fear that it could contain horsemeat DNA.
Tests in the Czech Republic were confirmed to have found contamination in the meatballs, however, IKEA UAE had confirmed that the meatballs served in its restaurants in UAE are halal and imported from Saudi Arabia.
