Rat poison placed in baby food jars in attempt to extort manufacturer, company says

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

VIENNA -- Austrian police said on Saturday they have arrested a 39-year-old suspect in connection with a case in which rat poison was placed in jars of baby food in what their German manufacturer called an attempt to extort it.

Five “manipulated” jars of the same kind of baby food made by German brand HiPP were safely recovered last month in Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia before they could be consumed, German police said at the time. A sixth jar thought to have been in Austria has still not been found.

“Today we succeeded in arresting a suspect, 39-year-old man,” a spokesperson for police in the eastern state of Burgenland, where a poisoned jar was found, said, declining to provide further details because they could jeopardize the investigation.

Earlier on Saturday, tabloid newspaper Kronen Zeitung said the man had been arrested in the state of Salzburg, which borders Germany.

While HiPP did not elaborate on the nature of the extortion, Austrian newspaper Die Presse reported soon after the case came to light that an email was sent to HiPP in March demanding 2 million euros (US$2.3 million) within six days but the company did not notice it until two weeks after that deadline.

HiPP said soon afterwards that the email was sent to a group address that is not checked often.

Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Keith Weir, Reuters