<h1 class="story-header"><img class=" size-full wp-image-309" style="width: 131px; height: 144px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; display: block;" alt="main elk" src="http://halalnews.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/main_elk.jpg" width="104" height="144" /></h1> <h1 class="story-header">&nbsp;</h1> <h1 class="story-header">Ikea pulls elk lasagne found to contain pork</h1> <div class="caption body-narrow-width"><img alt="A European elk (file image)" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/66781000/jpg/_66781101_elk_getty.jpg" width="304" height="171" /> <span style="width: 304px;">Ikea said the lasagnes should have contained no meat other than elk (known as moose in North America)</span></div> <div class="embedded-hyper"> <div class="hyperpuff"> <h2>&nbsp;</h2> </div> </div> <p id="story_continues_1" class="introduction">Ikea has confirmed it has withdrawn nearly 18,000 of its elk meat lasagnes from sale in Europe after they were found to contain pork.</p> <p>The Swedish furniture giant said sales were stopped in late March, and tests confirmed the contamination on Friday.</p> <p>Ikea said the pork had no health risks, but that it did not "tolerate any other ingredients than the ones stipulated in our recipes or specifications".</p> <p>It is the latest in a series of meat contamination scandals across Europe.</p> <p>Ikea was among several companies whose meat products were found to contain horsemeat. Earlier this year it withdrew its meatballs from sale in its restaurants and grocery departments.</p> <p>The European elk is known in north America as a moose.</p> <p><span class="cross-head">Cleaning failures blamed</span></p> <p>In a statement, the company said sales of the elk lasagne were suspended last month after Belgian authorities detected pork in them.</p> <p>Further tests were carried out, and Ikea confirmed that one batch of the lasagne made by the suppliers Familjen Dafgard, with an expiry date in January 2014, contained 1.4% pork.</p> <p>A total of 17,600 lasagnes have been removed from the shelves.</p> <p>Swedish newspaper the Local <a href="http://www.thelocal.se/47168/20130406/#.UV_4-pNwoQA">quoted the meat suppliers</a> as saying the contamination was due to its facilities not being cleaned properly between the handling of different animals and that it was taking steps to improve its practices.</p> <p>"Together with our supplier, we have implemented improvements to ensure that our products should not contain any other ingredients than those declared on the packages," said the Ikea statement.</p> <p>"Ikea is committed to serving and selling high-quality food that is safe, healthy and produced with care for the environment and the people who produce it."</p> <p>source : BBC news</p>