Police in the eastern region of Burgenland said the poisoned jar of carrot and potato purée had been reported by a customer and that their baby had fortunately not consumed the food. The jar had apparently been tampered with, police said. Authorities believe at least one more poisoned jar is in circulation and have issued guidance on how to recognise tampered jars. They have not confirmed that the cases involve an alleged extortion attempt. But the police statement said the warning had come from German investigators and tampered jars had also been seized in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

On Saturday, HiPP recalled its entire range of jarred purées sold in Spar supermarkets in Austria, saying consuming them may be potentially "life-threatening". The German-based company said the recall of baby food jars at Spar Austria was "not due to a product or quality defect on our part" - and that jars had left its factory in "perfect condition". "The recall is related to a criminal act that is being investigated by the authorities," it said on its website. "As part of ongoing criminal investigations, isolated cases of tampered HiPP baby food jars have been seized - as previously reported in Austria, now also in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. (BBC)