Brazil: Three people have died in suspected Christmas cake poisoning

According to local media, test results of the cake are expected to be ready by next week.

On Friday, police requested an exhumation of the body of a man – the late husband of the woman who made the cake. She died of food poisoning in September, but police said at the time that her death was natural.

He is not currently considered a suspect in any of these cases and the investigation is ongoing.

Six of the seven people who attended the Christmas party ate the cake on Monday afternoon, including the woman who baked the cake.

Police told Brazilian broadcasters that he was the only person believed to have eaten two slices of the homemade cake and that he had the highest levels of arsenic after tests.

Police chief Marcos Vinicius Veloso told local media that some family members complained that the cake tasted “peppery”.

The family then began experiencing symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea, and the five of them sought medical attention at Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes Hospital at 01:00 local time (04:00 GMT) on Tuesday.

It was reported from the hospital that two sisters died of heart attack a few hours later. In local media, their names appear as 58-year-old Maida Berenice Flores da Silva and 43-year-old Tatiana Denize Silva dos Santos.

A third victim, whose blood test showed traces of arsenic, died of “shock after food poisoning” on Tuesday evening, the hospital said.

She has been named locally as 65-year-old Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjos.