At least three members of a family have died, and three others have been hospitalized, after eating a traditional Christmas cake — months after the baker’s husband died from food poisoning.
Tatiana Denize Silva dos Anjos, 43, and Maida Berenice Flores da Silva, 58, suffered a cardiac arrest after consuming Bolo de Natal, a homemade Brazilian Christmas cake, in Brazil on Monday, Dec. 23. Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjos, 65, meanwhile, died a day later due to “shock after poisoning,” according to the hospital Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes de Torres, The Independent reported.
Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos, 61, who prepared the cake with her sister, and a 10-year-old boy were hospitalized after falling ill. The third victim hospitalized has not been revealed.
According to local news outlet O Globo, Brazil’s Civil Police are running tests to confirm the cause of death for the three women.
The outlet reported that initial laboratory tests found arsenic was present in their bodies.
The discovery has now prompted police to reopen an investigation into the death of Zeli’s late husband, Paolo Luiz.
His death from food poisoning in September wasn’t investigated because it was considered natural, O Globo reported.
“As we became aware of this fact today, we opened a police investigation and we are going to exhume this man’s body to check whether there was also poisoning,” Detective Marcos Vinícius Velho, who is leading the investigation, told the outlet.
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According to The Daily Mail, Zeli ate two slices of the cake that she and her sister baked.
A friend of the family told RBS TV, per O Globo, that the family had baked the cake in years past and there were no problems between them.
“It was a traditional family cake, a king’s cake, which they always, always, always made,” he said, according to the outlet.
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