The Israel Police opened an investigation into allegedly tainted Prinok baby food in May, but were not asked by the Health Ministry to test a suspicious jar of the fruit puree, according to a KAN News report on Thursday.
According to the KAN report, in early May, two young girls were hospitalized after consuming the food. The children’s mother gave the tainted jar to the hospital at the time and requested that it be tested, but it was not tested until this week, after four additional children were hospitalized after consuming the puree.
The jar was passed on to the police, who opened an investigation and interviewed the children’s parents. Police allege that they alerted the Health Ministry, the body responsible for food safety, of the May incident and were not given further instructions regarding how to handle the potentially tainted product.
"At the time, despite the investigation that was opened, the investigators were not required by the Health Ministry to submit the product for testing, and it was kept as evidence by the police," police told KAN.
The jar from the May incident was tested this week, and it was found to have been laced with sedatives after another investigation into the tainted baby food was opened.
The Jerusalem Post reached out to Israel Police for confirmation on the matter and has not yet received a response.
Four young children hospitalized after consuming tainted Prinok baby food
On Thursday, two one-year-olds and two three-year-olds were hospitalized after consuming the sedative-spiked fruit puree. Results from blood tests done on the children found traces of benzodiazepines, a sedative medication, in their systems.
On Wednesday, KAN reported that the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) had joined the investigation, as law enforcement probes the possibility that the sedatives were intentionally added to the baby food.
The managers of two branches of the Zol Begadol discount grocery store in Jerusalem, the stores where the tainted baby food was purchased, were called in for questioning, according to KAN.
The Health Ministry also ordered that the two supermarkets remain closed pending the investigation.