Nestle finds horsemeat in pasta dishes in Italy, Spain

"Our tests have found traces of horse DNA in two products," the world's biggest food company said in its statement Monday.

"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.

The tainted products breached the one percent threshold the British Food Safety Agency uses to indicate likely adulteration or gross negligence, Nestle said.

A Nestle frozen meat product for catering businesses, produced in France, will also be withdrawn from sale.

Nestle apologised to consumers while assuring that "actions being taken to deal with this issue will result in higher standards and enhanced traceability."

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.

The scandal then intensified when French firm Comigel alerted Findus this month to the presence of horsemeat in the meals it had made for the food giant and which were on sale in Britain.

Since then, supermarket chains have removed millions of "beef" products as tests are carried out to detect horsemeat, which is eaten in many European countries but is considered taboo in Britain.

Horsemeat in "beef" ready-to-eat meals had already been confirmed in products found in Britain, Ireland, France, Austria, Finland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. Most of the mislabelled products were made by Comigel.

With Italy and Spain now also tainted by the horsemeat scandal it appears that most of the continent has been affected.

(c) 2013 AFP