LONDON -- Heinz, one of two baby food companies in Britain whose products have been deliberately contaminated, said it had received blackmail threats but would not pay any money to extortionists.
Nails, razor blades, small pieces of broken glass, tacks, caustic soda and needles have been found throughout Britain and Ireland in more than 50 items of baby food produced by U.S.-owned H.J. Heinz and the British company Cow and Gate.
'Heinz (officials) ... have not paid any blackmail money. Nor will they do so,' a company statement said Thursday. 'Heinz has always insisted that public safety is paramount. The safety of babies is our overriding concern.'
But a spokeswoman for Cow and Gate said the company 'has not received any threats of blackmail or threats of any other nature.'
Scotland Yard's Regional Crime Squad said the two companies offered a $169,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the contamination.
According to one member of Parliament, the baby food was tampered with after it left the factories.
At the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Exeter, about 170 miles southwest of London, Peter Vicery, manager of the pediatric unit, said a 6-month-old girl had spent the night in the hospital after she was thought to have swallowed glass in her baby food. She left the hospital Thursday when no glass was found in her system.
Two other babies were admitted to hospitals in Leeds, 196 miles north of London, and Leicester, 130 miles north of the capital.
Carol Smith, who found glass in her daughter's food, said she 'was in an absolute panic.'
'I was absolutely devastated that it had actually happened to me,' said Smith, from Leeds, who thought 'it was only happening in the far country.'
The first reported incidents of contaminated food came two weeks ago. There were five cases reported before police issued a statement April 26 that blackmail threats were made against Heinz, which sells more than 170 million packages of baby foods in Britain annually.
The contamination began in southeast England, but spread throughout the British Isles with incidents Thursday in the Irish Republic at Drogheda, 30 miles north of Dublin, and Waterford, 75 miles southwest of the capital.
Heinz said withdrawing its goods from stores would not solve the problem.
'A general withdrawal would not solve the external tampering. The problem would re-appear at any future date on Heinz products or any other food products sold in grocery outlets,' the statement said.
'Our energies are concentrated on assisting the police in apprehending a criminal who is prepared to put babies' lives at risk,' it said.
Home Office minister John Patten told Parliament Wednesday the police had 'considerable evidence' the foods were tampered with after they had left the factory and he warned parents to check the seals on jars of baby food to see if they had been opened.
'It is difficult to imagine the twisted minds that could mount such a vicious attack on defenseless babies,' Patten said.
