Police search for poisoned baby food in Austria in extortion scheme

A view of HIPP baby food on a shelf, in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic, Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Stanislav Hodina)

BERLIN - Authorities in Austria are hunting a last remaining jar of baby food possibly mixed with rat poison in a suspected extortion scheme, police said on Monday.

Five tampered jars of HiPP-brand baby food have been recovered so far in Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but a sixth jar may “still be in circulation in Austria”, said police in the German state of Bavaria, who are leading the investigation.

Police believe suspects put rat poison in jars of HiPP baby food in an attempt to extort the company.

The HiPP company announced the recall at certain supermarkets late Friday over the possibility that “a hazardous substance” was introduced into its “carrot with potato” puree through tampering.

Laboratory tests on the five tampered jars recovered confirmed the presence of rat poison, police said.

The jars had been seized before consumption. Police said a suspicious email believed to be from the perpetrators surfaced late Thursday.

HiPP said on Sunday that its “production, quality and control processes are fully intact” and the incident “is in no way related to product quality or production”.

A HiPP spokesman told AFP that “products and distribution channels in Germany or other European countries that are not part of the investigation are not affected”.

A dedicated police task force has been investigating the baby food tampering across all three countries.

The suspected perpetrators are believed to have marked the tampered jars with a white sticker that includes a red circle on the bottom.

Consumers of the baby food are also asked to listen for the typical popping sound when opening the hermetically sealed jars, as the absence of the sound could indicate tampering.