Three women died and three others remain in hospital after eating a Christmas cake at a family gathering in Brazil, it has been reported.
Tatiana Denize Silva dos Anjos, Maida Berenice Flores da Silva and Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjos fell ill and later died after consuming the cake on 23 December. The incident occurred during a family gathering in Torres, a city in southern Brazil.
Six of the seven family members present at the gathering fell ill, all of whom had eaten the cake. Tatiana, 43, and Maida, 58, became gravely ill and died the same day, while Neuza, 65, passed away in hospital the following day. All three reportedly suffered cardiac arrest.
Three others, including a 10-year-old boy, remain in hospital. Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos, 61, who hosted the gathering and helped her sister Maida make the cake, is among those still receiving treatment.
Zeli had two pieces of cake and was the first to have been taken to hospital. Her husband died in September after contracting food poisoning, according to reports.
The family was said to be eating a “king cake” which is a tradition in Torres.
“It was a traditional family cake, a king cake, which they always, always, always, made,” a local told Brazilian media.
Police chief Marcos Vinicius Veloso is now leading an investigation into the deaths and what might have caused them.
Brazilian television station Globo has, reports the Independent, gathered information to suggest that many out of date food items were found around the house. This included a bottle of mayonnaise, which had long since gone off.
“A bottle was found, a medicine, which should have had capsules inside it and there were no capsules – there was a white liquid and this white liquid will also be examined,” the police said, according to Globo.
