Nestle has removed its beef pasta meals from being sold in Italy and Spain after traces of horsemeat above the acceptable levels were found in them.
Nestle suspended the sale of its beef pasta meals in Italy and Spain after traces of horsemeat above the acceptable levels were found, the Swiss-based food giant announced Monday through its website. The company has stopped supplies from a German subcontractor, whose products were found to be contaminated.
"Our tests have found traces of horse DNA in two products made from beef supplied by H.J. Schypke," the statement said. "The levels found are above the one percent threshold the UK's Food Safety Agency uses to indicate likely adulteration or gross negligence."
The company however, clarified that there were no food safety issues with the products.
"There is no food safety issue, but the mislabelling of products means they fail to meet the very high standards consumers expect from us," the statement said.
Nestle is also removing two chilled pasta products, Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini, from store shelves in Italy and Spain, the news release said. A lasagna product sold to French catering businesses will also be removed.
In addition to removing the three affected products from sale, Nestle would be "enhancing our existing comprehensive quality assurance programme by adding new tests on beef for horse DNA prior to production in Europe," it said.
The horsemeat scandal first began in January when horse DNA was discovered by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland in frozen beef burgers that were being produced and sold in Ireland and U.K. Unauthorized horse meat has been found to be sold as beef in places including France, Britain, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and Ireland.
