AFP (France), BBC (Uk), LE MONDE (France)

Worldcrunch

Nestlé, the world" biggest food company, is now riding straight into the center of the growing horsemeat scandal.A spokesman has confirmed 1% presence of horse DNA in two of its beef products sold in Europe, Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini, reports BBC.

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The Swiss-based food producer said Tuesday it has started to withdraw the two pre-packaged pasta products from store shelves in the Spanish and Italian markets where the horsemeat traces have appeared.

The problem appears to be connected to the German supplier H.J. Schypke, a sub-contractor of JBS Toledo, a major meat company based in Belgium, says AFP.

The decision follows the one taken by the giant German supplier Lidl, which announced Monday the withdrawal of several products found to contain horsemeat instead of beef from its stores in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Belgium.

Still, the food company insists on the safety of its prodcuts despite the false labeling, and underlines that new testing methods are being implemented to track down the presence of horsemeat in European production sites, reports Le Monde.