Swiss giant Nestle hit by horsemeat scandal

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.

News agency AFP said 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.

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.

Nestle announced it was also suspending deliveries of all products using beef supplied by German firm HJ Schypke, a subcontractor of JBS Toledo.

A Nestle frozen meat product for catering businesses, produced in France, will also be withdrawn from sale.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