HiPP Baby Food Jars Contaminated
Email overlooked! Threat went undetected for days
An explosive blackmail scheme—and no one noticed it: A threatening email warning of poison in baby food apparently landed in HiPP’s inbox—and remained undetected there for nearly three weeks...
Kronen Zeitung als bevorzugte Google-Quelle hinzufügen It was March 27 when a message reportedly arrived in a previously unknown inbox in Pfaffenhofen, Bavaria. Its content: highly explosive. A phantom (now being hunted by several countries) apparently demanded two million euros from baby food giant HiPP in the letter.
If the money wasn’t transferred by April 2, several jars of the “Carrots with Potatoes (190 grams)” baby food would be laced with rat poison and placed on the shelves of three supermarkets in three countries—the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria.
Five out of six jars were recalled
The problem with the whole thing: The email apparently ended up in corporate limbo—the message simply went unnoticed until April 16. The rest of this life-threatening story is well known: HiPP sounded the alarm just last Friday, and Spar and Maximarkt cleared all shelves of HiPP products on Saturday.
According to the current status of the investigation by the German “Glas” task force, six jars of baby food were apparently contaminated. Two in the Czech Republic, two in Slovakia, and two in Burgenland. There is still no trace of a product sold in Eisenstadt.
In various cases, people are quick to highlight the excellent international cooperation. The “rat poison” incident, however, led to a multi-organ failure last spring weekend when it came to communication and customer information.
By the way: More than 60 hours after the baby food manufacturer’s initial warning, Health Minister Korinna Schumann (SPÖ) finally spoke out on Monday morning. She was “deeply dismayed” that “someone is apparently willing to endanger the health of babies for criminal motives,” she announced on the morning Ö1 news. And she called on the public to be “especially” vigilant.
Other retail chains pulled the plug
Although likely not directly affected themselves, the drugstore chain DM and the Rewe Group pulled the plug on Monday. “We are removing the affected product from sale,” DM announced. All HiPP products are being inspected, and customers are covered by a return guarantee.
If you suspect a jar has a tampered seal (no click when opening), a strange odor, or a white sticker with a red circle, please contact the police immediately at 059/133 10 – 3333.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
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