A 39-year-old man was arrested in Austria as a suspect connected to the discovery of rat poison in several baby food bottles, leading the manufacturer to recall the products.
Foreign news agencies reported on 2 May 2026 that two weeks earlier, rat poison was found in baby food jars containing carrot and mashed potatoes in the Austrian state of Burgenland in the east of the country. This prompted the manufacturer HiPP to immediately announce a recall of all products in that group.
In total, five contaminated bottles were detected, and authorities safely recovered them in Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia before consumers could use them.
Austria's Die Presse newspaper reported that a ransom email demanding 2 million euros was sent, but HiPP did not notice it until after the payment deadline had passed.
HiPP’s CEO, whose company is German, told Die Presse that the message, which demanded payment within six days, was sent on 27 March to an email address checked only every two to three weeks.
Later, on Saturday (2 May), police in Burgenland announced the arrest of a 39-year-old male suspect. Police spokesperson Helmut Marban told the BBC that further details about the suspect or the circumstances of the arrest cannot yet be disclosed as the investigation is ongoing.
Authorities believe at least one more contaminated bottle is still circulating in the market and have issued advice to the public on how to identify possibly tampered bottles.
Consumers have been warned to watch for abnormalities such as damaged or opened bottle caps, missing safety seals, unusual or spoiled odors, or white stickers with red circles attached to the bottom of glass bottles.
Austria’s Health and Food Safety Authority issued a warning to parents whose children have consumed the brand’s food to consult a doctor immediately if the child shows symptoms of bleeding, severe fatigue, or paleness as a precaution.
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Source:BBC