An Eliran, a father of four from Holon, says two of his children, ages one and two, developed days of extreme sleepiness after regularly eating Frinok fruit puree. He said the boys improved after he stopped giving them the product and insisted the change was strikingly unusual. “I know my children, and I knew something was not normal,” he said. “Suddenly the two-year-old put his head down on the sofa at 5 p.m. and tried to fall asleep. That had never happened.”
According to him, both children showed similar signs, including lack of appetite, constant tiredness, night wakings, sweating and nightmares. He said he began buying large quantities of the product after seeing what he described as unusually low prices, and stopped using it immediately on Sunday after reading social media reports about suspected sedative contamination. Even after stopping, he said, the children remained very sleepy for another day or two.
Eliran said a clinic doctor was unfamiliar with the allegations and told him there was no point in taking the children for tests. He later contacted Israel’s national poison information center and the Health Ministry hotline, and was told the case was being handled and he could take the children to the emergency room. “I wanted answers, not to be sent from place to place,” he said. He stressed that his goal is awareness, not panic.
The report says no causal link has been proven between his children’s symptoms and the puree. The Health Ministry and police are still investigating, after earlier reports of two hospitalized children who had eaten Frinok puree bought at Zol B’Gadol stores. On Wednesday, the ministry said blood tests from three hospitalized infants at Hadassah Ein Kerem found traces of benzodiazepines, including clonazepam and lorazepam. Lab tests also found the substances in jars sold at two Jerusalem branches of Zol U’Gadol, which were ordered shut immediately. The ministry has told parents to watch for drowsiness, exhaustion or confused speech, contact a pediatrician and call 5400*, but said there is still no blanket recall because no manufacturing defect or factory contamination has been found. Frinok’s distributor, Randi, said the products are safe, that the evidence points to deliberate external tampering, and that the company has been cooperating with the authorities.
