Nestlé is pulling six pasta products from Spain, after beef from one of its Spanish suppliers tested positive for horse DNA.

The Swiss fmcg giant said on Monday (25 February) it was removing from sale all products made with beef from Spanish supplier Servocar because one batch of beef supplied by the company had been found to contain more than 1% horsemeat.

“It is clear this is a problem almost all manufacturers in the food industry now face. There is widespread fraud being committed across Europe. This is totally unacceptable. I want to apologise to consumers and reassure them we remain vigilant,” said Nestlé Spain general manager Bernard Meunier.

“We will test new deliveries of beef we receive from all our suppliers for horse DNA. We are enhancing our quality assurance and testing procedures to ensure that we don’t face the same problem in future. The quality and safety of our products is, and will always be our number one priority.”

Today’s announcement comes after Nestlé withdrew products from Spain, Italy, France and Portugal last week after beef from a German supplier, J. H. Schypke, was found to contain horse DNA. Subsequent tests on Nestlé products in Italy have proved negative.

Nestlé stressed so far only four tests on product from Schypke and Servocar had shown horse DNA contamination, and all other Nestlé products had been given the all-clear. It added it had now carried out tests on 70% of its products made in Europe with beef or veal.

Nestlé also said it would no longer use Schypke or Servocar as suppliers.

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