Ikea says Swiss shops carried contaminated cakes

Chinese authorities destroyed two tons of Ikea cake Keystone

Research has revealed that chocolate almond cakes sold at Swiss Ikea restaurants last year were contaminated with coliform bacteria. The Swedish furniture shop confirmed the report on Swiss radio on Monday.

Earlier this month, Ikea recalled cakes from 23 countries after Chinese customs authorities found traces of coliform bacteria in them. At that time, the retailer said that the wares sold in Switzerland were not affected.

Meanwhile, the Chinese authorities have destroyed nearly two tons of cake.

Now it turns out that the 720 cakes offered at Ikea’s nine Swiss branches last autumn were also contaminated – a fact that Ikea said it regrets. Sold by the slice in the Ikea restaurants, the cakes carried an expiry date of 2014.

However, there have been no customer complaints and the bacteria in question is not considered particularly dangerous.

While coliform bacteria does not necessarily cause illness, its presence in food and water suggests that other pathogens might also be there. Fecal coliform bacteria and strains of Escherichia coli (E coli) are more hazardous.