IKEA: meatballs in China supplied by Fujian factory

After horsemeat were found in meatballs sold in IKEA, IKEA China told media that the meatballs sold in China are supplied by a Chinese factory.

Yesterday, reporter saw the frozen meatballs called "Swedish meatballs" were sold at IKEA shopping mall in Guangzhou. However, although "Sweden" appears in the name, horse meat meatballs produced by the Swedish supplier will not enter the mouth of the Chinese consumer. IKEA says it will not allow the use of any material outside IKEA food recipes.

IKEA China told media that the meatballs sold in China are supplied by a factory in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province, and not imported from Sweden. It refused to reveal the specific name of its Chinese suppliers.

The meatballs list of ingredients shows it contains 47 percent beef and 23 percent pork.

"We do not tolerate any ingredients other than the ones stipulated in our recipes and specifications," IKEA said.

However, IKEA China declined to comment on whether it would detect meatballs ingredients of suppliers in China.

In 2012 the company sold up to 3 million tons of the meatballs in the Chinese market, according to Global Times.

IKEA confirmed on Monday that it had stopped selling meatballs in Sweden since horsemeat was detected in the products.

"Considering the possible concerns of customers, we now have stopped selling meatballs in Sweden," IKEA press officer Sara Paulsson was quoted as saying by Swedish news agency TT.

Horsemeat was detected in the meatballs labeled "Made in Sweden" to be sold at IKEA stores in the Czech Republic. The meatballs should have mainly contained pork and beef as labeled.

It was the first case of undeclared horsemeat contained in products made in Sweden. Test is still underway on how much horsemeat was mixed into the product.

Most of the IKEA meatballs were produced by the Swedish company Dafgard, which had been informed that horsemeat was found in one of the three tests conducted by the Czech authorities, according to Karin Cerenius from the Swedish National Food Agency.

The horsemeat scandal, which has spread to a number of European countries, came to the surface in mid-January when Irish food inspectors detected horsemeat in frozen beef burgers made by firms in Ireland and Britain.