A man has been arrested in Austria after rat poison was found in some baby food jars on supermarket shelves in central Europe.
Burgenland Police said the 39-year-old suspect was arrested in Salzburg state, in the west of the country, and is being questioned, without providing further details. Austrian national broadcaster ORF reports the suspect is a man.
It comes after a probe was launched following the discovery of poison in a baby food jar by the Germany-based brand HiPP. The jar was purchased at a supermarket in the city of Eisenstadt on 18 April, police said.
As a result, HiPP recalled all of its baby food jars sold at SPAR supermarkets in Austria, including SPAR, EUROSPAR, INTERSPAR and Maximarkt stores, as a precaution, with vendors in Slovakia and the Czech Republic also removing all of the brand's baby jars from sale.
After the man's arrest on Saturday, HiPP said in a statement it was "greatly relieved" and would provide further updates when more details are available.
The Burgenland public prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into suspected "intentional endangerment of the public".
HiPP said it has been a "victim of extortion", adding that an unspecified "blackmailer" sent a message to a shared mailbox in the case, prompting it to inform police immediately.
Burgenland Police said last month they believe the tampering happened in 190-gram jars of baby food made with carrots and potatoes for five-month-olds that were sold from SPAR supermarkets in the country.
The discovery was made after a customer reported that a jar appeared to have been tampered with, but no one had consumed the baby food, the force added.
HiPP said at the time that its recall was "not due to any product or quality defect on our part" and said the baby food jars left its facility "in perfect condition".
A total of five tampered jars were seized before they could be consumed, the Austrian Press Agency reports.
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According to the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, rat poison typically contains bromadiolone, an anticoagulant that prevents the blood from clotting.
Ingesting rat poison could lead to bleeding gums and nosebleeds, as well as bruising and blood in the stool. Symptoms could appear two to five days after ingestion, the agency said.
An expert report on the toxicity of the poison found in the baby jars is pending, according to APA.
(c) Sky News 2026: Man arrested in Austria after rat poison found in baby food jars
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