VIENNA — Authorities in eastern Austria have taken a 39-year-old individual into custody following the discovery of rat poison inside baby food containers sold at grocery stores throughout central Europe.
Baby food manufacturer HiPP issued a statement Saturday expressing they were “greatly relieved” about the arrest and promised to share additional updates once confirmed information becomes available. The company had previously pulled certain baby food products from store shelves in Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic after the contamination was discovered last month.
According to the Burgenland State Criminal Police Office, working alongside prosecutors, the investigation began when poison was discovered in a baby food container bought at a grocery store in Eisenstadt on April 18.
Officials stated the suspect is currently being interviewed, though they declined to release additional information at this time. The Burgenland prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation for suspected “intentional endangerment of the public.”
The Austrian Press Agency noted that toxicology experts are still analyzing the poison. According to APA, authorities recovered five contaminated baby food containers before anyone could eat the contents.
Law enforcement previously determined the contamination affected 190-gram containers of carrot and potato baby food designed for 5-month-old infants, which were distributed through SPAR grocery chains in Austria.
As a safety measure, HiPP pulled all its baby food products from SPAR retailers — including SPAR, EUROSPAR, INTERSPAR and Maximarkt locations — throughout Austria. Retailers in Slovakia and the Czech Republic also voluntarily removed all HiPP baby food from their stores.
The manufacturer emphasized the recall resulted from external tampering rather than any manufacturing or quality control issues, stating the containers left their facilities in “perfect condition.”
According to police, a shopper initially noticed signs of tampering on a container and alerted authorities, though fortunately no one had eaten any of the contaminated food.
The Germany-based company, headquartered in Pfaffenhofen, revealed they became a “victim of extortion” when an unknown individual sent threatening messages to a company email address, which prompted them to immediately contact law enforcement.
