RIOT AFTERMATH: GETTING BACK TO BUSINESS : Poison Threat Linked to Verdict Surfaces in Australia

U.S. food giant H. J. Heinz began removing millions of jars of baby food from Australian supermarkets today after police were sent a cyanide-laced jar and a threat to kill babies as retribution for the Rodney G. King verdict.

The jar of Heinz Rosehip Baby Gel was sent this week to police in Perth, the capital of Western Australia state, along with a letter claiming five other jars had been poisoned, police said.

The letter said five babies should die as a result of last week’s not-guilty verdicts in the trial of four Los Angeles policemen who beat King. The verdict touched off rioting that has killed more than 50 people.

Pittsburgh, Pa.-based Heinz, Australia’s largest baby food manufacturer, promptly ordered the removal of all its baby food in glass jars from its Western Australian supermarket shelves.

“This (the removal) has been confined to Western Australia at the moment,” a Heinz spokeswoman told Reuters.

Perth police said the threat was being taken “very, very seriously.”

“We have out there an idiot, possibly a person who is mentally deranged,” Assistant Police Commissioner Bruce Scott told reporters in Perth late Monday.

“They say they have put five jars for distribution and, while the mind boggles how they could do that, it could be done,” Scott said.

Police also warned Western Australians to avoid using baby food of any brand in glass jars bought since Wednesday’s verdict in the King case.

“There is nothing in the letter to say the other jars are Heinz,” company spokeswoman Dee Hendy said. “But as a responsible company we are acting responsibly and having all our glass jars removed as a matter of urgency.”

Western Australian health authorities told hospitals to stop feeding with prepared baby foods until further notice.

Police declined to say whether the letter contained any demands or from where the contaminated jar had been sent.