• Ikea withdraws chocolate cake after tests find bacteria

    A public worker rides a bicycle in front of an Ikea shop on March 6 in Shanghai, China. Chinese authorities say they have destroyed nearly two tons of chocolate cake imported by Sweden's Ikea for violating food quality standards.

    By Peter Jeary, Senior Foreign Desk Editor, NBC News

    LONDON — Furniture chain Ikea has removed chocolate cake from store restaurants in 23 countries after authorities in China identified high levels of bacteria commonly found in human and animal feces in one batch of the treat.

    However, none of the contaminated batch had been shipped to stores in the U.S. and the food in question — an almond, chocolate and butterscotch cake — had not been sold as a take-home product.

    "This is not a product recall," Ikea spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson said. "There’s no risk that anyone has a contaminated cake at home in their freezer."

    The contamination came to light earlier this week when the Shanghai quarantine bureau revealed it had destroyed 4,100 pounds of imported Ikea chocolate cake that was found to contain excessive levels of coliform bacteria.

    The food, from a supplier based in Sweden, was destroyed in November and December, but Ikea’s head office only found out about it Monday.

    As a precaution, Ikea announced it had removed the cake from sale in 23 countries. Magnusson said there was no health risk. "None of the [affected] cakes made it to our restaurants," she said.

    Czech Republic officials say traces of horse meat were discovered in frozen packages of meatballs sent to their country for sale at furniture giant Ikea. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    Some forms of coliform bacteria are commonly found in the environment and Ikea said the type found in Shanghai did not pose a health risk. However, it said its own quality controls required no coliform be present at all.

    This latest food scare came just days after Ikea's trademark meatballs were removed from sale in Europe after horse meat was found in some batches - part of a wider scandal over mislabeled meat there. The tainted batches were traced to a Sweden-based supplier. Meatballs sold in Ikea’s US stores contain only beef and pork from animals raised in the U.S. and Canada.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Related:

    Horse meat in the US? Unlikely, but tests are rare

    'Fraud on a massive scale': Europe's horse meat scandal keeps on growing

    'Criminal conspiracy' blamed for European horse-in-burger scandal

     

  • Horse meat found in Ikea meatballs, Czech officials say

    Czech Republic officials say traces of horse meat were discovered in frozen packages of meatballs sent to their country for sale at furniture giant Ikea. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    By Juergen Baetz and Karel Janicek, The Associated Press

    Traces of horse have been found in meatballs labeled as beef and pork for Swedish global furniture giant Ikea, according to authorities in the Czech Republic.

    The horse meat was found in one-kilogram packs of frozen meat balls made in Sweden and shipped to the Czech Republic for sale in Ikea stores there, the Czech State Veterinary Administration said.

    It is the latest discovery in a deepening scandal over the discovery of horse meat in ready meals sold as beef in supermarkets in Ireland, the UK and other European countries.

    Markus Schreiber / AP, file

    Ikea furniture stores also sell typical Swedish food.

    A total of 1,675 pounds of the meatballs were stopped from reaching the shelves.

    Ikea's furniture stores feature restaurants and also sell food typical of the company's home country, including the so-called Kottbullar meat balls.

    It was not immediately clear whether Ikea exported the same product to other countries. Calls seeking comment from Ikea in Sweden were not immediately returned Monday.

    The Czech authority also found horse meat in beef burgers imported from Poland during random tests of food products.

    Authorities across Europe have started doing random DNA checks after traces of horse meat turned up in frozen supermarket meals such as burgers and lasagna beginning last month.

    The European Union's agriculture ministers gathered in Brussels Monday to discuss the widening scandal's fallout, with some member states pressing for tougher rules to regain consumer confidence.

    The 27-nation bloc must agree on binding origin disclosures for food product ingredients, starting with a better labeling of meat products, German agriculture minister Ilse Aigner said.

    "Consumers have every right to the greatest-possible transparency," she insisted.

    From lasagna and burgers to children's sweets containing gelatin, horse meat has been discovered in a wide variety of "beef" products, leaving Europeans to wonder what they're really eating. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.

    The scandal began in Ireland in mid-January when the country's announced the results of its first-ever DNA tests on beef products. It tested frozen beef burgers taken from store shelves and found that more than a third of brands at five supermarkets contained at least a trace of horse. The sample of one brand sold by British supermarket kingpin Tesco was more than a quarter horse.

    Such discoveries have spread like wildfire across Europe as governments, supermarkets, meat traders and processors began their own DNA testing of products labeled beef and have been forced to withdraw tens of millions of products from store shelves.

    More than a dozen nations have detected horse flesh in processed products such as factory-made burger patties, lasagnas, meat pies and meat-filled pastas. The investigations have been complicated by elaborate supply chains involving multiple cross-border middlemen. 

    Related:

    Horse meat in the US? Unlikely, but tests are rare

    'Fraud on a massive scale': Europe's horse meat scandal keeps on growing

    'Criminal conspiracy' blamed for European horse-in-burger scandal

    This story was originally published on Mon Feb 25, 2013 6:57 AM EST

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Thousands protest after Bangladesh fire traps workers, kills at least 112

    Thousands of textile workers gathered in Bangladesh in protest factory conditions following a massive fire that killed 112 people. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    By NBC News wire services

    DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Thousands of Bangladeshi workers blocked the streets of a Dhaka suburb Monday, throwing stones at factories and smashing vehicles, as they demanded justice for at least 112 people killed in a garment-factory fire that highlighted unsafe conditions in an industry rushing to produce for major retailers around the world.

    Another fire broke out in a multi-story garment factory in a Dhaka suburb on Monday, but a fire department official said the blaze was under control and there were no immediate reports that anyone had died in the latest blaze.

    Some 200 factories were closed for the day after the protest erupted in Savar, the industrial zone where Saturday's deadly fire occurred. Protesters blocked a major highway.

    Andrew Biraj / Reuters

    Workers shout slogans Monday as they protest against the death of their colleagues after a weekend fire in a garment factory in Savar, Bangladesh, killed more than 100 people.

    The government announced that Tuesday will be a day of national mourning, with the national flag flying at half-mast in honor of the dead.

    Fire official: No emergency exit
    Investigators suspect that a short circuit caused the fire, said Maj. Mohammad Mahbub, fire department operations director. But he said it was not the fire itself but the lack of safety measures in the eight-story building that made it so deadly.

    Fire sweeps clothing factory in Bangladesh -- more than 100 killed

    "Had there been at least one emergency exit through outside the factory, the casualties would have been much lower," Mahbub said.


    He said firefighters recovered at least 100 bodies from the factory, and 12 more people died at hospitals after jumping from the building to escape the fire.

    Local media reported that up to 124 people were killed.

    "I haven't been able to find my mother," one worker, who gave her name as Shahida, told Reuters. "I demand justice. I demand that the owner be arrested."

    Mohammad Ripu, a survivor, said Monday that he tried to run out of the building when the fire alarm rang but was stopped.

    "Managers told us, 'Nothing happened. The fire alarm had just gone out of order. Go back to work,'" Ripu said. "But we quickly understood that there was a fire. As we again ran for the exit point we found it locked from outside, and it was too late."

    Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com

    Ripu said he jumped from a second-floor window and suffered minor injuries.

    Mahbub said the fire broke out on the ground floor, which was used as a warehouse, and spread quickly to the upper floors. He said many workers who retreated to the roof were rescued, but dozens of others were trapped; firefighters recovered 69 bodies from the second floor alone.

    A fire blew through an eight-story clothing factory in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh on Saturday night. The factory made products for Walmart and other U.S. companies. NBC's Kate Snow has more.

    Many victims were burned beyond recognition. The bodies were laid out in rows at a school nearby. Many of them were handed over to families; unclaimed victims were taken to Dhaka Medical College for identification.

    More news from South & Central Asia on NBCNews.com

    Hazardous conditions are widespread
    The garment-factory fire was Bangladesh's deadliest in recent memory, but such dangers have long been a fact of life as the industry has mushroomed to meet demand from major retailers around the world.

    At least 500 people have died in clothing factory accidents in Bangladesh since 2006, according to fire department officials.

    The Savar factory is owned by Tazreen Fashions Ltd., a subsidiary of the Tuba Group. Neither Tazreen nor Tuba Group officials could be reached for comment.

    The Tuba Group is a major Bangladeshi garment exporter whose clients include Wal-Mart, Carrefour and IKEA, according to its website.

    Andrew Biraj / Reuters

    A firefighter inspects a garment factory in Savar, Bangladesh, on Sunday after a fire caused more than 100 deaths there a day earlier.

    Bangladesh has some 4,000 garment factories, many without proper safety measures. The country annually earns about $20 billion from exports of garment products, mainly to the United States and Europe.

    Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

    The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said it would stand by the victims' families and offered $1,250 to each of the families of the dead. The association's acting president, Siddiqur Rahman, said on a talk show late Sunday that Tazreen's owner was to meet with group representatives on Monday.

    "We will discuss what other things we can do for the families of the dead," Rahman said on Rtv, a private television station. "We are worried about what has happened. We hope to discuss everything in detail in that meeting."

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Ikea's Saudi Arabian catalog is missing something: women

    Furniture giant IKEA is apologizing after it emerged that the Swedish company erased female models from its catalogue in Saudi Arabia. The firm says the edits do not align with its values. TODAY's Natalie Morales reports.

    By Martha C. White, NBC News contributor

    Scrubbing the bathroom got a whole new meaning in the Saudi Arabian Ikea catalog. The Swedish home and furnishings retailer faced criticism after reports surfaced that Ikea digitally erased women from pictures in the Saudi version of the catalog.

    In one picture of a family in a bathroom, the mother standing at the sink with her son was removed. Even one of the retailer’s own designers, Clara Gausch, was erased from a photo featuring four of the brand’s designers.

    Now you see her. Now you don't. The image on the left appeared in Ikea's Swedish catalog. The same image, sans the woman, in the Saudi Arabian catalog.

    Sweden’s trade minister Ewa Björling told the newspaper Metro the vanishing women were a "sad example" of gender inequality in Saudi Arabia, where women aren’t allowed to drive and must be covered in public.

    In a statement to the BBC, the company said "excluding women from the Saudi Arabian version of the catalogue is in conflict with the Ikea Group values." It blamed the missing women on the franchisee who runs Ikea’s Saudi operations and said, “We do not accept any kind of discrimination.” Ikea did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.

    In January, privately-held Ikea Group announced it earned a profit of 2.97 billion euros in its 2011 fiscal year and opened seven new stores. Ikea has three stores in Saudi Arabia.