"Straight from the horse's mouth" - Nestle pulls meals in Italy, Spain as 'horse meat' scandal grows.

"Straight from the horse's mouth" - Nestle pulls meals in Italy, Spain as 'horse meat' scandal grows.(HD).Swiss giant Nestle has become the latest food company hit by Europe's horsemeat scandal, withdrawing two types of pasta meal from supermarket shelves in Italy and Spain due to contamination. The news came Monday as German discount chain Lidl pulled ready-made meals from the shelves of its Finnish, Danish, Swedish and Belgian stores as it also confirmed the presence of horsemeat.
Meanwhile the French firm that sparked the Europe-wide food alert, by allegedly passing off 750 tonnes of horsemeat as beef, was allowed to resume production of minced meat, sausages and ready-to-eat meals.
But Spanghero, whose horsemeat found its way into 4.5 million "beef" products sold across Europe, will no longer be allowed to stock frozen meat, France's Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll told AFP.
Nestle, the world's biggest food company, said in a statement that "our tests have found traces of horse DNA in two products," while assuring that there was no public health risk.
"The mislabeling of products means they fail to meet the very high standards consumers expect from us," it added. Therefore the company is "voluntarily removing" two chilled pasta products, Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini from sale in Italy and Spain immediately.
Lidl said last week it had found traces of horse in beef goulash and a tortellini bolognese product sold by its Austrian subsidiary.
Concerns about horsemeat first emerged in mid-January when Irish authorities found traces of horse in beefburgers made by firms in Ireland and Britain and sold in supermarket chains including Tesco and Aldi.
Horsemeat in "beef" ready-to-eat meals had already been confirmed in products found in Britain, Ireland, France, Austria, Norway, the Netherlands and Germany.
With Italy, Spain and Belgium now also tainted by the horsemeat scandal it appears that most of the continent has been affected.
France's DGCCRF anti-fraud office concluded after an initial inquiry that 500 tonnes of Spanghero horsemeat were sent to Comigel, whose frozen meals were sold to 28 different companies in 13 European states.
The European Union, seeking to reassure nervous consumers that their food is safe and to end the horsemeat scandal, on Friday agreed the immediate launch of tests for horse DNA in meat products.
All parties have stressed that this is a food labelling issue, not a health issue.Read the full story here.

Related: The great horse meat scandal of 1948.