Baby food company "Hipp" was poisoned and extorted, Austria recalls products and launches an investigation.

After the famous European baby food manufacturer HiPP received a blackmail email, a supermarket in Austria found several cans of the brand's baby food suspected to be contaminated. The Austrian regulatory agency issued an emergency notice on the evening of the 18th, warning consumers to avoid purchasing and consuming related products. The Austrian Health and Food Safety Authority reported that unidentified criminals sent a blackmail email to HiPP, claiming to have put rat poison in some of its products. Following a criminal investigation by the agency, several cans of carrot and potato puree food were found to be "suspected to be contaminated with rat poison" at a SPAR supermarket in Eisenstadt, the capital of Burgenland, Austria. The containers were labeled with white stickers and a red circle. HiPP announced a recall of the same series of products distributed in all SPAR supermarkets in Austria on the evening of the 17th, warning consumers in a statement that "consumption of such canned food may pose a life-threatening risk". The international retail group SPAR, headquartered in the Netherlands, stated that as a precautionary measure, all HiPP brand products in Austrian supermarkets have been removed from shelves.