By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA, April 18 (Reuters) – An entire range of HiPP baby food jars is being recalled from more than 1,000 SPAR supermarkets in Austria over safety concerns, the baby food maker and the supermarket chain said on Saturday.
“It cannot be ruled out that a dangerous substance was introduced into the product,” HiPP said in a statement, adding that its HiPP Vegetable Carrot with Potato jars may have been tampered with.
Consuming the contents from the glass jar could be life-threatening, it said in a statement.
A spokesperson for SPAR supermarket told Reuters that the mass recall was a precautionary measure and affects 1,500 of the retailer’s stores in Austria, with no impact on outlets elsewhere.
“According to our current knowledge, this critical situation involves an external criminal interference that affects the SPAR Austria distribution channel,” a HiPP spokesperson told Reuters, adding its production and quality assurance remained unchanged.
SPAR and HiPP advised customers not to consume the contents of the jars bought from SPAR Austria and said customers would receive a full refund on returned products.
Police in the Austrian region of Burgenland are seeking information from the public, HiPP said. The police did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Mtarise)
