They were the first to report about it in the Austrian federal state of Burgenland, the capital of Eisenstadt. A customer of the local store reported a suspicious cup of baby food that had apparently been tampered with.
Fortunately, no one consumed the food. However, laboratory analyzes of the seized sample confirmed on Saturday afternoon that the product contained rat poison, which reduces blood clotting. , that she issued the warning in connection with the ongoing investigation in Germany.
How to recognize a dangerous product
Authorities urge consumers to exercise extreme caution. Manipulated food cups can be identified based on several signs.
- White sticker with a red circle placed at the bottom of the glass.
- Broken packaging: Lid already opened or otherwise damaged.
- Missing safety lock (the lid does not make a characteristic “pop” when first opened).
- Unusual smell after opening.
The Austrian police strongly warns citizens not to open or consume suspicious glasses marked in this way under any circumstances.
The suspicion concerns the product “vegetables with carrots and potatoes”. However, the Spar business network left nothing to chance and, for preventive reasons, immediately withdrew all HiPP brand baby food from its approximately 1,500 branches throughout Austria, APA and .
The measure concerns Spar, Eurospar, Interspar and Maximart stores. The chain told customers that they can return the products and get their money back.
Traces also lead to the Czech Republic and Slovakia
The case has an international dimension. The Austrian police confirmed that suspicious glasses with the first positive analyzes for the poisonous ingredient were also found in the neighboring Czech Republic and Slovakia.
through the social network X informed that the case is already being intensively dealt with by South Moravian criminal investigators together with the Regional State Attorney’s Office in Brno.
The spokesman of the Brno State Attorney’s Office, Petr Lužný, confirmed that the Czech police have already started criminal proceedings.
Expression of the HiPP brand
The German baby food brand itself has already commented on the situation. HiPP said it could not rule out the possibility that a hazardous substance had been deliberately added to the product or otherwise manipulated.
“According to our current knowledge, this critical situation is an external criminal intervention affecting the distribution channel of the SPAR company in Austria,” the German company said on Saturday and strongly warned that consuming the affected cups could be life-threatening.
