Horse meat has been found in a huge consignment of meatballs served in Ikea stores. The company withdrew the suspect products from outlets in the UK and 12 other countries on Friday without telling consumers why. Details emerged only after the publication of test results by food watchdogs in the Czech Republic. Scroll down for video . Precautions: The move comes two days after it withdrew Swedish meatballs from stores across Europe and a handful of countries in Asia and the Caribbean after horse meat was discovered by Czech authorities . The secret withdrawal of the meatballs . is typical of the way restaurants and catering companies are dealing . with the food scandal. On Friday, the French-owned caterer . Sodexo recalled all its frozen beef mince products from thousands of . outlets following the discovery of horse meat. Nestle - the world’s biggest food comapny - announces it is removing beef ready meals from sale in Italy and Spain after its own tests found more than one per cent horsemeat DNA in its beef ravioli and tortellini. Birds Eye removes three beef ready meals from sale in the UK and Ireland after one of its products being sold in Belgium tested positive for horse DNA . Pub giant Whitebread - which owns Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Table Table, Taybarns and Premier Inn - confirms it has found horsemeat in its products. Tesco reveals its Everyday value spaghetti bolognese contained up to 100 per cent horsemeat. Revealed that packs of Findus frozen lasagne meals being sold around the UK contained up to 100 per cent horse meat. The lasagne packs were manufactured by French company, Comigel, at a plant in Metz, which produces food for supermarkets in Britain and Europe. Comigel makes a range of beef products for Tesco and Aldi. Both stores begin removing those products as a ‘precautionary measure’. Asda removes four own-label brands of frozen burgers from sale following the discovery of beef contaminated with horse meat at a manufacturer in Northern Ireland. Burger King admits to selling burgers contaminated with horsemeat. Emerges that Asda and Co-op have also been selling burgers contaminated with horsemeat. Hotel chain Premier Inn removes beef burgers supplied by the company from its restaurants. It has also revealed schools and hospitals have been serving beef contaminated with horsemeat. However, the firm, which supplies . schools, military bases, hospitals and prisons, has kept vital . information about the recall secret. It is believed other catering firms . and restaurant chains are withdrawing a large number of products without . telling customers. The attitude of caterers is in contrast to most . supermarkets, which have volunteered information on contamination levels . and the names of manufacturers. Ikea’s meatballs are supposed to . contain only beef and pork, but Czech Republic watchdogs found evidence . of equine DNA. The products are made by the Swedish company, Familjen . Dafgard, using meat from Ireland, Sweden and Germany. Ikea said it did not make an announcement on Friday because it wanted to carry out its own tests, which are continuing. The company said: ‘We do not tolerate . any other ingredients than the ones stipulated in our recipes or . specifications. Ikea has immediately issued a sales stop of the batch . where indications of horse meat were identified in the Czech Republic . and other concerned countries – Slovakia, Hungary, France, UK, Portugal, . Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland.’ Ikea’s Swedish meatballs are hugely popular in the UK, with the company selling 60,000 portions every week. The Government’s watchdog, the Food . Standards Agency (FSA), has allowed caterers and restaurants to keep . customers in the dark, but Labour’s shadow environment secretary, Mary . Creagh, said: ‘It is totally wrong for companies to recall suspect meat . products on the quiet without telling the FSA.’ Authorities . across Europe have started doing random DNA checks after traces of . horse meat turned up in frozen supermarket meals such as burgers and . lasagna beginning last month. The European Union's agriculture . ministers gathered in Brussels today to discuss the widening scandal's . fallout, with some member states pressing for tougher rules to regain . consumer confidence. The . 27-nation bloc must agree on binding origin disclosures for food product . ingredients, starting with a better labelling of meat products, German . agriculture minister Ilse Aigner said. 'Consumers have every right to the greatest-possible transparency,' she insisted. Austria . backs the German initiative; but others like Ireland say existing rules . are sufficient although Europe-wide controls must be strengthened to . address the problem of fraudulent labeling. Explainer: A recent advert in which Ikea explained to customers what was in their famous meatballs . Discovery: Swedish-style meatballs intended for sale at Ikea outlets in the Czech Republic have been found to contain horsemeat, inspectors have revealed earlier this week . The scandal has created a split . between nations like Britain who see further rules as a protectionist . hindrance of free trade under the bloc's single market, and those . calling for tougher regulation. Processed . food products - a business segment with traditionally low margins that . often leads producers to hunt for the cheapest suppliers - often contain . ingredients from multiple suppliers in different countries, who . themselves at time subcontract production to others, making it hard to . monitor every link in the production chain. Standardised . DNA checks with meat suppliers and more stringent labeling rules will . add costs that producers will most likely hand down to consumers, making . food more expensive. The . scandal began in Ireland in mid-January when the country's announced the . results of its first-ever DNA tests on beef products. Consumer concern: The traces were found in one-kilogram packs of frozen meat balls made in Sweden . It tested frozen beef burgers taken from store shelves and found that more than a third of brands at five supermarkets contained at least a trace of horse. The sample of one brand sold by Tesco was more than a quarter horse. Such discoveries have spread like wildfire across Europe as governments, supermarkets, meat traders and processors began their own DNA testing of products labeled beef and have been forced to withdraw tens of millions of products from store shelves. The investigations have been complicated by elaborate supply chains involving multiple cross-border middlemen.
Ikea: Affected meatballs were also on sale in Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal .
Found in one-kilogram packs of frozen meat balls made in Sweden .
Ikea estimates: Sold 11.6 billion Swedish meatballs in Britain since 1987 .
Detected: Burger patties, .
lasagnas, meat pies and meat-filled pastas so far .
The Cafe Rouge chain has removed two .
items from its menus because they contained unexpected ingredients. A .
chocolate ganache dessert, billed as suitable for vegetarians, actually .
contained animal-based gelatine, and its spicy lamb and beef merguez .
sausages was found to contain pork.
Horse meat has been found in a huge consignment of meatballs served in Ikea stores. The company withdrew the suspect products from outlets in the UK and 12 other countries on Friday without telling consumers why. Details emerged only after the publication of test results by food watchdogs in the Czech Republic. Scroll down for video . Precautions: The move comes two days after it withdrew Swedish meatballs from stores across Europe and a handful of countries in Asia and the Caribbean after horse meat was discovered by Czech authorities . The secret withdrawal of the meatballs . is typical of the way restaurants and catering companies are dealing . with the food scandal. On Friday, the French-owned caterer . Sodexo recalled all its frozen beef mince products from thousands of . outlets following the discovery of horse meat. Nestle - the world’s biggest food comapny - announces it is removing beef ready meals from sale in Italy and Spain after its own tests found more than one per cent horsemeat DNA in its beef ravioli and tortellini. Birds Eye removes three beef ready meals from sale in the UK and Ireland after one of its products being sold in Belgium tested positive for horse DNA . Pub giant Whitebread - which owns Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Table Table, Taybarns and Premier Inn - confirms it has found horsemeat in its products. Tesco reveals its Everyday value spaghetti bolognese contained up to 100 per cent horsemeat. Revealed that packs of Findus frozen lasagne meals being sold around the UK contained up to 100 per cent horse meat. The lasagne packs were manufactured by French company, Comigel, at a plant in Metz, which produces food for supermarkets in Britain and Europe. Comigel makes a range of beef products for Tesco and Aldi. Both stores begin removing those products as a ‘precautionary measure’. Asda removes four own-label brands of frozen burgers from sale following the discovery of beef contaminated with horse meat at a manufacturer in Northern Ireland. Burger King admits to selling burgers contaminated with horsemeat. Emerges that Asda and Co-op have also been selling burgers contaminated with horsemeat. Hotel chain Premier Inn removes beef burgers supplied by the company from its restaurants. It has also revealed schools and hospitals have been serving beef contaminated with horsemeat. However, the firm, which supplies . schools, military bases, hospitals and prisons, has kept vital . information about the recall secret. It is believed other catering firms . and restaurant chains are withdrawing a large number of products without . telling customers. The attitude of caterers is in contrast to most . supermarkets, which have volunteered information on contamination levels . and the names of manufacturers. Ikea’s meatballs are supposed to . contain only beef and pork, but Czech Republic watchdogs found evidence . of equine DNA. The products are made by the Swedish company, Familjen . Dafgard, using meat from Ireland, Sweden and Germany. Ikea said it did not make an announcement on Friday because it wanted to carry out its own tests, which are continuing. The company said: ‘We do not tolerate . any other ingredients than the ones stipulated in our recipes or . specifications. Ikea has immediately issued a sales stop of the batch . where indications of horse meat were identified in the Czech Republic . and other concerned countries – Slovakia, Hungary, France, UK, Portugal, . Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland.’ Ikea’s Swedish meatballs are hugely popular in the UK, with the company selling 60,000 portions every week. The Government’s watchdog, the Food . Standards Agency (FSA), has allowed caterers and restaurants to keep . customers in the dark, but Labour’s shadow environment secretary, Mary . Creagh, said: ‘It is totally wrong for companies to recall suspect meat . products on the quiet without telling the FSA.’ Authorities . across Europe have started doing random DNA checks after traces of . horse meat turned up in frozen supermarket meals such as burgers and . lasagna beginning last month. The European Union's agriculture . ministers gathered in Brussels today to discuss the widening scandal's . fallout, with some member states pressing for tougher rules to regain . consumer confidence. The . 27-nation bloc must agree on binding origin disclosures for food product . ingredients, starting with a better labelling of meat products, German . agriculture minister Ilse Aigner said. 'Consumers have every right to the greatest-possible transparency,' she insisted. Austria . backs the German initiative; but others like Ireland say existing rules . are sufficient although Europe-wide controls must be strengthened to . address the problem of fraudulent labeling. Explainer: A recent advert in which Ikea explained to customers what was in their famous meatballs . Discovery: Swedish-style meatballs intended for sale at Ikea outlets in the Czech Republic have been found to contain horsemeat, inspectors have revealed earlier this week . The scandal has created a split . between nations like Britain who see further rules as a protectionist . hindrance of free trade under the bloc's single market, and those . calling for tougher regulation. Processed . food products - a business segment with traditionally low margins that . often leads producers to hunt for the cheapest suppliers - often contain . ingredients from multiple suppliers in different countries, who . themselves at time subcontract production to others, making it hard to . monitor every link in the production chain. Standardised . DNA checks with meat suppliers and more stringent labeling rules will . add costs that producers will most likely hand down to consumers, making . food more expensive. The . scandal began in Ireland in mid-January when the country's announced the . results of its first-ever DNA tests on beef products. Consumer concern: The traces were found in one-kilogram packs of frozen meat balls made in Sweden . It tested frozen beef burgers taken from store shelves and found that more than a third of brands at five supermarkets contained at least a trace of horse. The sample of one brand sold by Tesco was more than a quarter horse. Such discoveries have spread like wildfire across Europe as governments, supermarkets, meat traders and processors began their own DNA testing of products labeled beef and have been forced to withdraw tens of millions of products from store shelves. The investigations have been complicated by elaborate supply chains involving multiple cross-border middlemen.
withdrew Swedish meatballs from stores across supermarkets in Britain and Europe. Comigel makes from its restaurants. It has also revealed Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and meatballs intended for sale at Ikea outlets in the Czech Republic have been found to contain tests on beef products. Consumer concern: The traces were found in one-kilogram packs of frozen meat balls made in Sweden . It tested frozen beef