IKEA halts meatball sale in Italy after horsemeat report

IKEA has halted the sale of meatballs at its Italian shops produced by Swedish supplier Familjen Dafgard on concerns they may contain horsemeat, a spokesman for IKEA's Italian unit told Reuters.

"We stopped selling in Italy meatballs from this Swedish producer," a the spokesman said. "Our meatballs must be made of beef and pork. We will carry out checks on possible DNA presence (of horsemeat)."

IKEA is stopping sales of its popular minced meal lunch after checks by the Czech food regulator found horsemeat in some of its meatballs.

A horsemeat scandal in Europe has prompted widespread product withdrawals, consumer concern and government investigations into food processing systems across the continent.

(Reporting By Maria Pia Quaglia; Writing by Lisa Jucca; editing by Keith Weir)