The global grocery giant said it had discontinued supplies from Servocar, a company based in Casarrubios Del Monte in Spain.
Samples meat from Servocar in products purporting to contain pure beef had instead revealed traces of horse DNA "above the 1% threshold likely to indicate adulteration or gross negligence", Nestle reported in a statement yesterday.
The company confirmed it had removed six products from Spanish and Italian supermarkets after detecting horse meat in supplies from German supplier Schypke, with which it has also ceased trading.
"It is clear this is a problem almost all manufacturers in the food industry now face," said Bernard Meunier, head of Nestle's Spanish unit, in the statement. There is widespread fraud being committed across Europe. This is totally unacceptable."
The firm has vowed to enhance quality assurance and testing procedures.