LONDON (Reuters) – Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, has removed beef pasta meals from sale in Italy and Spain after finding traces of horse DNA.
The discovery of horsemeat in products labelled as beef has spread across Europe since last month, prompting product withdrawals, consumer anger and government investigations into the continent’s complex food-processing chains.
Swiss-based Nestle, which just last week said its products had not been affected by the scandal, said its tests had found more than 1 percent horse DNA in two products.
“We have informed the authorities accordingly,” Nestle said in a statement yesterday. “There is no food safety issue.”
Nestle withdrew two chilled pasta products, Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini, in Italy and Spain,
Lasagnés la Bolognaise Gourmandes, a frozen product for catering businesses produced in France, will also be withdrawn.
Nestle was suspending deliveries of all products made using beef from a German subcontractor to one of its suppliers, Nestle said.
