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, who local media said were 43, 58 and 65 years old, died after eating cake at a family gathering on December 23 in Torres, a small seaside town in southern Brazil.
The woman who baked the cake and the 10-year-old child who also ate the cake remain in hospital and are being treated for the poisoning.
The civic police sent the cake for testing and said laboratory tests also showed arsenic levels in blood samples taken from the three victims.
Police said they found several expired food items during a search of the woman's home. This is reported by the BBC, a partner of CBS News. The police added that it is still unclear whether the poisoning was intentional.
Cake tests are expected next week.
Brazilian Civil Police
News site G1 reported that police are waiting for the hospitalized woman's condition to improve before questioning her. Meanwhile, as part of the investigation, statements were taken from 15 more people.
No charges have yet been filed and police have not said if it is being treated as a homicide.
Reports said the woman who made the cake got on well with other family members and there were no early signs of an argument.
The BBC, citing Brazilian media, reported that police chief Marcos Vinicius Velaza 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 frosting and a maraschino cherry on top. At the family gathering, only one person did not eat the cake and was not hurt.
According to local media, the police demanded the exhumation of the body of the dead husband of the woman who made the cake. He died in September of food poisoning, police ruled his death natural, according to the BBC.
Very low level inorganic and organic arsenic are found in many foods, according to the National Institutes of Health. Testing is routine because slightly elevated levels of either form can cause symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, numbness and muscle cramps.
Inorganic arsenic is more toxic to humans than the natural form of mineral arsenic, and the health effects are more severe, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. The Environmental Protection Agency has designated inorganic arsenic as a carcinogen, or cancer-causing substance.