The Swiss-based firm has halted deliveries of products containing meat from a German supplier.

 

Nestle is the latest in a string of major food producers to find traces of horsemeat in beef meals.

 

A spokesman for the company said levels of horse DNA were very low but above 1%.

 

Last week the firm said its products did not contain horsemeat.

 

Nestle withdrew two chilled pasta products, Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini, in Italy and Spain.

 

Lasagnes a la Bolognaise Gourmandes, a frozen product for catering² businesses produced in France, will also be withdrawn³.

 

A spokesman for the company told the BBC that Nestle had identified a problem with a supplier from Germany. 

 

 

A statement on the Nestle website identified the supplier as HJ Schypke, a sub-contractor of JBS Toledo, a major meat processing company based in Belgium.

 

"There is no food safety issue, but the mislabelling of products means they fail to meet the very high standards consumers expect from us," the statement said.

 

In addition to removing the three affected⁴ products from sale, Nestle would be "enhancing our existing comprehensive quality assurance programme by adding new tests on beef for horse DNA prior to production in Europe", it added.

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