Ikea pulls its famous meatballs in Dominican Republic

Santo Domingo.- Swedish furniture giant Ikea has included the Dominican Republic in the list of countries where it has pulled its meatballs from sale over fears that the popular food could contain horsemeat.

The Ikea-label meatballs have now been pulled from stores in 24 countries, including the Dominican Republic, Hong Kong and Thailand in addition to the host of European countries announced recently.

Ikea spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson said it is an important product for the company, "so the measure is significant but we don’t want our clients to worry." She said a German laboratory was currently testing the meatballs for traces of horsemeat, with the first results expected on Thursday.

Last week Ikea said that it had withdrawn the meatballs from sale in 16 European countries after Czech authorities found horsemeat in the product.