Mother Describes Panic After Toddlers Collapsed After Eating Fruit Purée

A mother identified as S. described the frightening moments after her two toddlers were hospitalized at Hadassah Ein Kerem in Jerusalem following consumption of a fruit purée bought in a Jerusalem supermarket. Her account, aired Tuesday by i24NEWS, comes as the Health Ministry has opened an epidemiological investigation into the incident.

She said the children were with her and a neighbor in a garden when they ate the purée, and their condition deteriorated quickly. “They ate and slowly, especially my older one, they became unsteady and started falling to the ground,” she said. She added that the older child, who ate the most, became “blurred and unconscious,” while the younger one, after eating a few spoonfuls, “was not stable, could not sit and looked very weak.”

The mother said a third toddler who was with them also appeared to be affected after tasting only a small amount. “My son gave a teaspoon of the same purée to his little friend, and then it happened to him too,” she said, deepening suspicion about the specific product.

After hours of treatment and tests at Hadassah Ein Kerem, she said the children were improving. “Today they recovered and the condition is much better,” she said. The Health Ministry and Israel Police are jointly investigating in Jerusalem after traces of sedatives and anesthetic substances were found in the blood of several toddlers. The ministry said it cannot yet confirm a link to the product, noted it was sold individually and not in a multipack, and urged parents who fed their children the product to watch for drowsiness, exhaustion or confused speech, contact a pediatrician, and call the ministry hotline 5400*.