By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA, April 19 (Reuters) – Rat poison was found inside a jar of HiPP baby food, Austrian police said late on Saturday after the product was recalled from 1,500 SPAR supermarkets in the country over safety fears.
A statement from police in Burgenland said that a sample from one of the 190-gram jars of carrot with potato baby food reported by a customer in the Eisenstadt-Umgebung district had tested positive for rat poison.
HiPP had said on Saturday that it could not be ruled out that a dangerous substance was introduced into the product and that its HiPP Vegetable Carrot with Potato jars may have been tampered with.
Consuming the contents could be life-threatening, HiPP said.
The police statement said the affected jars had a sticker with a red circle on the bottom of the jar and a lid that had already been opened or damaged or missing a safety seal, or had an unusual smell.
They said initial lab tests on similar jars seized by police in the Czech Republic and Slovakia showed the presence of a toxic substance. The statement gave no further details.
HiPP confirmed to Reuters on Sunday that the jars did contain rat poison and that affected retail partners in both countries immediately removed all HiPP baby food jars from sale as a precautionary measure.
The police also said that authorities in Austria were warned about the risk after investigations in Germany. They provided no further 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 on Saturday: “According to our current knowledge, this critical situation involves an external criminal interference that affects the SPAR Austria distribution channel.”
SPAR Austria said on Sunday that it had removed the HiPP products in all countries where it runs businesses, including Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia and Northern Italy.
SPAR stores in other countries are not part of SPAR Austria, it added.
SPAR and HiPP advised customers not to consume the contents of the jars bought from SPAR Austria. They said customers would receive a full refund on returned products.
Police advised customers to wash hands thoroughly if they came into contact with a jar.
The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety said that medical help must be sought immediately if babies consumed the contaminated baby food.
(Reporting by Olivia Le PoidevinEditing by Jane Merriman and David Goodman)
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