Police say rat poison found in HiPP baby food jar in Austria
Austrian authorities have found rat poison in a jar of HiPP baby food, escalating a product recall that pulled the brand from 1,500 SPAR supermarkets across the country amid urgent safety concerns.
Austrian authorities have found rat poison in a jar of HiPP baby food, escalating a product recall that pulled the brand from 1,500 SPAR supermarkets across the country amid urgent safety concerns.
Police in Burgenland said a 190g jar of carrot with potato baby food, flagged by a customer in the Eisenstadt-Umgebung district, tested positive for rat poison after being examined.
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HiPP said yesterday that it could not rule out the possibility that a dangerous substance had been introduced into the product, warning that its HiPP Vegetable Carrot with Potato jars may have been tampered with.
The company said consuming the contents could be life-threatening.
HiPP added that early laboratory tests on similar jars seized by police in the Czech Republic and Slovakia had also indicated the presence of a toxic substance. No further details were released in the statement.
The company has since confirmed the jars did contain rat poison, saying retail partners in both countries removed all HiPP baby food jars from sale immediately as a precaution.
Austrian police also said authorities in the country were alerted to the risk following investigations in Germany.
They gave no additional details.
“Products and distribution channels in Germany or other European countries that are not part of the investigations are not affected,” HiPP said.
HiPP said: “According to our current knowledge, this critical situation involves an external criminal interference that affects the SPAR Austria distribution channel.”
SPAR Austria said it had withdrawn HiPP products from stores in every market where it operates, including Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia and Northern Italy.
It said SPAR stores in other countries are not part of SPAR Austria.
SPAR and HiPP urged customers not to consume the contents of any jars purchased through SPAR Austria.
They said customers would be given a full refund for returned products.
Police advised anyone who had come into contact with a jar to wash their hands thoroughly.
The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety said medical help should be sought immediately if babies had eaten the contaminated baby food.