Meatballs are off the menu at Ikea after a batch was found to contain horsemeat - but many dedicated fans have said they will still be coming back for more.

Ikea's Valley Park superstore stopped selling all meatballs on Monday after the furniture superstore was dragged into the horsemeat scandal.

The Czech State Veterinary Administration found traces of horse during tests on Ikea’s beef and pork meatballs.

Meatballs from the same contaminated batch were being sold at the store in Purley Way store's Swedish Supermarket section.

Ikea said they had no specific figures yet for how long they were being sold for and how big the batch of defective meatballs were.

They will not be selling any more meatballs until tests conclude no more batches contain traces of horse DNA.

The meatballs are iconic to the store- and have an army of loyal fans- with many shoppers at the store on Tuesday saying they will still come back for more when they go back on sale.

Neil Hayne, from Epsom said: "I wouldn’t mind eating them as long as I know what is in them.

"There is nothing wrong with horsemeat, if they are on the packet then that is fine. It isn’t going to harm me."

Similarly, Tracey Warren, from Morden said she would not be put off buying meatballs from the Swedish company.

She said: "I don’t know what the fuss is about to be honest. I think the meatballs are lovely, I have had them loads of times.

"I will just put some more gravy and cranberry sauce on it."

But Teresa Webb, from Cheam, said it put her off a little bit and was not sure if she would buy them again.

An Ikea spokesman said all meatballs were taken off the restaurant menu as an extra precaution, not because they were contaminated with horsemeat.

He said: "The trust of our customers are of outmost importance which is why the concerned production batch of meatballs was immediately withdrawn and we are now taking this extra-precautionary measure (to stop selling all meatballs)."

A Croydon Council spokesman said people should visit the government’s Food Standards Agency website for the latest horsemeat updates at food.gov.uk.