IKEA Says No Tainted Cakes Found in Bulgaria

No batches of chocolate almond cake containing faecal bacteria have been discovered in IKEA's Bulgarian store, IKEA House Market Bulgaria has declared in a statement.

The statement has also noted that the contaminated cakes discovered in China were not a health issue and that their merely concerned the product's quality.

The Swedish retailer stopped sales of its almond cakes after Chinese customs authorities found two batches that fell short of the country's hygiene standards

Faecal coliforms, bacteria normally found in human and animal waste, were detected in IKEA cake sold in China, and the Chinese authorities have destroyed nearly two tonnes' worth.

The affected batches of almond cake with chocolate and butterscotch all came from the same Swedish supplier which exports to stores across the world.

"The production batches have, as per safety and quality routines, been tested for bacteria that can cause health issues, such as E.coli, and none of these pathogen bacteria have been found," an IKEA spokesman has said, as cited by the Belfast Telegraph.

"However, since the product does not comply with our strict food quality standards we have decided to withdraw the concerned production batches from sale in the 23 affected countries."

The affected countries are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates.

Experts have told international media that coliforms do not normally cause serious illness but are a sign of contamination which can indicate the presence of more harmful bacteria such as E.coli.

IKEA recently recalled meatballs and sausages from 24 countries due to fears they could have been contaminated with horse meat.