Authorities Under Pressure

HiPP: Police suspect multiple perpetrators

“Click”: According to the police, anyone opening a HiPP jar in the current situation should pay attention to the sound of the lid. The tampered jars lack this clicking sound.(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

Since Friday evening, retailers and the criminal investigation department have been in an uproar. Rat poison was mixed into HiPP jars in Burgenland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia—and according to the latest reports, Upper Austria is also said to be affected. There is still talk of blackmail—and, more recently, of accomplices.

A weekend of fear for many parents in Austria: Late Friday evening, the first warning was issued against consuming HiPP’s “Carrots with Potatoes” baby food (190 grams); early Saturday morning, Spar and Maximarkt removed all products of the brand from their shelves— as reported by the “Krone.”

Communication with customers was—to put it mildly—suboptimal. The parent hotline wasn’t reachable until Saturday afternoon. What people have been warned about since then is hair-raising: jars are in circulation, marked with a white sticker with a red ring, to which rat poison has been added. Consumption is life-threatening, the company warned.

That the danger is a sad reality became clear as early as Saturday. In Schützen am Gebirge (Burgenland), a tampered jar previously purchased in Eisenstadt turned up. Several jars containing “poisoned baby food” have since been “seized”; one of them emitted a strange odor when opened. The buyer immediately reported that something must be wrong with the baby food.

“Click”: According to the police, anyone opening a HiPP jar in the current situation should listen for the sound of the lid. The tampered jars lack this clicking sound.(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

Burgenland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic—and Upper Austria
However, it is not only Austria that is affected by this life-threatening mixture, but also the Czech Republic and Slovakia. On Sunday afternoon, the Bavarian police announced that the search for poisoned HiPP jars had been expanded to Upper Austria. As for Burgenland, at least a second “poisoned jar” is believed to have been purchased at the same Spar store, according to Burgenland police spokesperson Helmut Marban. “We ask the public to be cautious.”

No image released
Consumers should therefore continue to look out for the aforementioned white-and-red stickers. Marban explains why law enforcement is not releasing an image of the original “poison mark” to inform consumers and protect babies and children: “That would be counterproductive for tactical reasons.” He cites copycat criminals who could trace the design and put it into circulation...

Probably not a lone perpetrator
In any case, police in all affected countries are hunting the phantom. HiPP headquarters reportedly received a blackmail letter and sounded the alarm. How the perpetrator(s) managed to get the “poisoned jars” onto store shelves is the subject of the investigation or a (currently still) well-kept secret. However, police currently assume that no single individual is responsible for the poison blackmail.

Heavy pressure on local authorities
According to “Krone” reports, the German food manufacturer is likely exerting massive pressure—including on Austrian authorities. Of course, they want to resolve the case as quickly as possible. The Eisenstadt public prosecutor’s office is investigating for intentional endangerment of the public. So are the prosecutors in Brno and Ingolstadt.