While we may shrug and joke about it on the internet when someone tells us there’s horse in our lasagne and meatballs, the newest food scandal is a bit more horrifying — bacteria normally found in human and other animal poo has popped up in Ikea cakes. Someone or something’s been pooing into the food chain.
The news comes from tests carried out by Chinese authorities, who discovered the coliform bacteria in batches of cakes made for the furniture specialist. The chain’s Tarta Chokladkrokant cakes are supposed to be constructed out of almond cake and butter cream, although this rogue consignment also had an “excessive level” of the bacteria.
The almond poo cakes have been pulled from Ikea restaurants in 23 countries as a result, although there’s apparently little real health risk as the bacteria in question isn’t associated with any particularly serious illnesses. A different supplier made the cakes for the UK, so we’re hopefully unaffected by this one.