Citing Iranian state media and top officials, Bloomberg reports this unusual story Monday: “Already battling U.S. sanctions, regional isolation and unrest on the streets, Iran’s intelligence services are dealing with a strange new threat: medicine-laced sponge cakes.”
The report further describes that “several cake factories in some of the country’s southern provinces had been forced to suspend production after pills, including the narcotic-like pain relief drug Tramadol, were discovered in packaged produce.” This has led to cake factories temporarily suspending production as possible sabotage is investigated, Bloomberg says.
Iran’s Food and Drug Organization spokesperson, Kianoush Jahanpour, had over the weekend claimed the country’s food industry was being targeted to “spread terror” after at least a dozen Iranian confectionery brands reported their supplies had been deliberately tainted.
Health Minister Saeed Namaki said in a statement Sunday that and unknown “group took systematic actions to manipulate public opinion and cripple the country’s food industry, especially the cake and chocolate industry,” according to state media.
Suspected sabotage incidents of the food items were uncovered in the eastern provinces of Kerman, Hormozgan, and Sistan-Baluchestan as well as the western Ilam province, near Iraq’s border. The story has gone viral within Iran and Iranian state media, putting families on edge given the products are popular especially among children.
Namaki told reporters in Tehran over the weekend that no poisoning deaths had yet been linked to the plot, Bloomberg reports further. “We’re working day and night with various teams in order to identify the network,” he said.
Iranian state media circulated photos of sweets “tainted with drugs”. In some cases there appeared whole pills inserted into the items, such as in this PressTV photo:
The report alleges that at least 30 different types of drugs were discovered placed in the sweets after production — some of them common drugs such as acetaminophen, cetirizine, hydroxyzine, and metoclopramide; but in some cases powerful narcotics tainted the items.
Meanwhile, the country’s medicine and pharmaceutical industry has continued to be deeply impacted by US sanctions. A recent flu epidemic has claimed the lives of at least 81 people this year, with nearly 300 hospitalized, many due to other medical complications, according to Middle East Eye (MEE).
Iran’s Health Ministry has blamed US sanctions which has severely impacted the medicine and pharmaceuticals industry. “This year, only 1.7 million vaccines were imported to the country of 83 million people,” MEE reports.
