Swedish furnishings giant Ikea says it is withdrawing meatballs from stores in 21 European countries amid concerns that they could contain horse meat.

The move comes after authorities in the Czech Republic said they had detected horse DNA in tests of one kilo packs of frozen meatballs labelled as beef and pork.

Ikea spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson said that stores in 21 countries using the same Swedish supplier would remove meatballs from their shelves.

She said that includes most European countries, but not Russia and Norway, which use local suppliers.

She added that Ikea stores outside Europe were not affected.

- AP