Khaberni - The Austrian authorities announced the discovery of quantities of rat poison inside packages of baby food belonging to the German company "Hipp," as part of ongoing investigations related to an extortion case that affected the company and included 3 European countries.
The public prosecutor's office in Eisenstadt revealed that five contaminated packages were seized, distributed between Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, and that one of the contaminated packages seized in Austria contained 15 micrograms of rat poison, indicating that a special toxicological examination would be conducted in the coming days to determine the potential impact of this quantity on infants or young children.
A spokesperson for the office clarified that the announced quantity is limited to what was seized inside Austria, and does not reflect the content of the packages discovered in the neighboring countries, while the office refrained from disclosing the exact type of poison used that was detected.
Experts from the Austrian Poison Information Center in Vienna, and experts from the poison emergency hotline at Charité Hospital in Berlin, stated to the German News Agency that assessing the risk level is impossible without precise knowledge of the actual substance used.
The authorities in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia are treating the case as a threat to more than one European country, amid strict security and health measures that included the withdrawal of suspected product batches from the market. The relevant parties confirm that the investigations are still in their early stages, focusing on tracing the source of the contaminated packages and their distribution path.
The roots of the case go back to an attempt by an unidentified person to extort the German company "Hipp" for producing baby food by placing rat poison in some of its products, as announced by the company.
Officials of the company "Hipp" said they received an email on March 27th at the company's headquarters in Pfaffenhofen in the state of Bavaria, Germany, containing threats and extortion, but it was not immediately noticed or dealt with, and its details were not revealed until later.
The information circulated indicates that the message included a threat of the possibility of contaminating some baby food products, in addition to demanding the company to pay a sum of 2 million euros. The data also reported that the sender threatened that if the amount is not paid by April 2nd, the threat related to contaminating carrot and potato mix packages would be executed.
Police advised consumers to ensure the usual "pop" sound when opening it, to smell the contents of the package, and not to use the product if there is any doubt, and to report to the police immediately.
