Ikea pulls elk meat lasagne from sale after traces of pork meat found

It seems nothing is safe these days, not even elk meat lasagne (that's moose meat for North Americans).

Swedish furniture retailer Ikea said Saturday it had withdrawn nearly 18,000 frozen elk meat lasagnes from its shelves across Europe after tests confirmed a batch contained traces of pork.

The contamination had taken place at Dafgaard, the same company that produces the Ikea meatballs that were pulled after tests showed they contained horsemeat.

"They had been grinding a mix of pork and beef in the morning and elk meat in the afternoon,” company spokeswoman Josefin Thorell said.

"We've reviewed these routines together with Dafgaard so this is no longer being done. They now have separate facilities for different types of production."

While the pork does not pose any health risks, Ikea said in a statement that it did not "tolerate any other ingredients than the ones stipulated in our recipes or specifications."

The incident is the latest in a long list of meat contamination scandals across Europe and will do nothing to boost flagging confidence in the continent’s food safety standards.

More from GlobalPost: Beyond horsemeat
 

Will you support The World with a monthly donation?

Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you. We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.

Make a gift today, and you’ll help us unlock a matching gift of $67,000!