Скачать или смотреть IKEA Singapore stops selling meatballs amid horsemeat scare - 26Feb2013

SINGAPORE: The Singapore branch of Swedish home products company, IKEA, said on Tuesday the meatballs at its cafeterias here contain only beef and pork sourced and produced from Australia.

It also has a halal line at IKEA Tampines, where meatballs containing a mixture of chicken from Brazil and beef from Australia are sold.

IKEA Singapore said that these are halal certified and produced locally.

None of its ingredients are produced by the affected suppliers.

As a precautionary measure, it has stopped selling meatballs for the time being until results from DNA testing are out.

Mike King, regional commercial manager at Ikano Retail Asia said: "Of course all our supplies provide us with verification of exact ingredients but as an additional measure we have submitted them for this DNA testing to be absolutely 100 percent sure."

The company said the test results, which are expected to be ready by the middle of next week, will confirm that there are no indications of horse meat in the meatballs.

On Monday, IKEA stopped selling meatballs at nearly all of its store cafeterias across Europe - after traces of horsemeat were found.

It is part of a widening scandal in Europe, where horse meat has made its way into products labelled as beef.

People whom Channel NewsAsia spoke to did not seem too concerned with the food scandal.

"Although there are concerns, but it will not deter me from eating the IKEA meatballs in Singapore," said one of the customers whom Channel NewsAsia spoke to.

www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1256558/1/.html