Authorities in Brazil launched an investigation after three women died and several others were hospitalized after a family ate a Christmas cake laced with arsenic, police said local media.
The three women – aged 43, 58 and 65, according to local media – died after eating the cake on December 23 at a family gathering in Torres, a small coastal town in southern Brazil.
The woman who baked the cake and a 10-year-old child who also ate the cake remain in hospital and are being treated for poisoning.
Civilian police sent the cake for testing and said laboratory tests also showed levels of arsenic in the blood samples of the three victims.
Police said they also found several out-of-date food items during a search of the woman’s home. This was reported by CBS News partner BBC. Police added that it was not yet clear whether the poisoning was intentional.
Tests of the cake are expected next week.
Brazilian Civil Police
News website G1 said police waited until the woman’s condition, who was in hospital, improved to question her. Statements from 15 other people have now been obtained as part of the investigation.
No charges have been filed and police have not said whether this was a murder case.
The woman who baked the cake reportedly got along well with the other family members and there were no early signs of an argument.
The BBC said, citing Brazilian media, police chief Marcos Vinicius Veloso said some family members had complained that the cake had a “peppery” taste.
Images provided by police and posted online showed a partially served dried fruit cake with white marzipan icing and maraschino cherries on top. At the family gathering, only one person did not eat the cake and was not affected.
According to local media, police demanded the exhumation of the body of the deceased husband of the woman who baked the cake. He died of food poisoning in September and police at the time believed his death was natural, the BBC reported.
Very low values of inorganic and organic arsenic are found in many foods, according to the National Institutes of Health. Testing is routine because mildly elevated levels of both forms can cause symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, numbness and muscle cramps.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, inorganic arsenic is more toxic to humans than the naturally occurring form of the mineral arsenic, and the health effects of exposure are more serious. The Environmental Protection Agency has classified inorganic arsenic as a carcinogen or carcinogen.
