The chief hygienist, Tatiana Červeňová, ordered the regional public health authorities to inspect establishments, where some types of food for children of the HiPP brand could be found. It is, for example, about retail chains, drugstores, warehouses, stores or catering facilities in hospitals, nurseries and kindergartens. TASR was informed about this on Monday by the spokesperson of the Office of Public Health (ÚVZ) SR Daša Račková.
“During the checks, the experts of the public health authorities in the Slovak Republic will focus on HiPP products from 8 months Rice with carrots and turkey, 220 grams, a HiPP from 8 months, Vegetables and rice with veal, 220 grams, and also on HiPP Carrots and potatoes, 190 grams (HiPP Carrots and potatoes 190 grams based on publicly available information from the Austrian police),” said Račková. As she added, in addition to these foods, inspections will also focus on all other baby foods of this brand.
If the authorities find products marked with a white sticker with a red ring or with damaged packaging, they will seize them and hand them over to the police. “We warn consumers to pay more attention to the information about the products in question and to be careful when shopping in brick-and-mortar stores and online, in Slovakia and abroad,” the spokeswoman called.
In the event that the consumer discovers that his product has a damaged packaging or there is no “clicking sound” when opened, or it has an unusual or spoiled smell, the ÚVZ recommends not to consume the product. It calls for the same procedure for a product with a white sticker with a red ring.
In the Austrian federal state of Burgenland, they secured over the weekend a glass of the aforementioned carrot and potato flavored baby food with rat poison. At the same time, there should be two glasses of such contaminated food in circulation in the region.
The Austrian prosecutor’s office, according to its own statements is investigating the case as a “deliberate threat to the public”. After a preliminary toxicological assessment, which confirmed the presence of rat poison in the seized baby formula, a more thorough investigation will be carried out.
HiPP spokesman Clemens Preysing told the DPA agency over the weekend that products and distribution channels in Germany or other European countries that are not part of the investigation are not affected.
However, he confirmed that, in addition to Austria, jars of baby formula with rat poison also appeared v Czech Republic and Slovakia. In both of these countries, according to him, they have withdrawn all HiPP baby food cups from sale. Preysing called the incident an “external crime” and noted that it “has nothing to do with product quality or manufacturing.”
