It's the authorities Brazil Police said they launched an investigation after three women died and several were hospitalized after a family ate Christmas cake laced with arsenic. local media.

The three women, aged 43, 58 and 65 according to local media, died on December 23 after eating the cake at a family gathering in the small coastal town of Torres in southern Brazil.

The woman who baked the cake along with her 10-year-old child, who also ate the cake, remain in the hospital and are being treated for poisoning.

Civil police sent the cake for examination and said laboratory tests also showed arsenic levels in blood samples taken from the three victims.

The police said that during the search of the woman's house, they also found several expired food items. reports CBS News partner BBC. The police added that it is not yet clear whether the poisoning was intentional.

Cake tests are expected next week.

News site G1 reported that police are waiting until the hospitalized woman's condition improves to question her. As part of the preliminary investigation, statements were taken from 15 more people.

No charges have yet been filed and police have not said if it is being treated as a homicide.

Reports say the woman who made the cake got on well with the rest of the family and there were no early indications of an argument.

The BBC, citing Brazilian media, reports that police chief Marcos Vinicius Veloso said some family members complained that the cake had a “peppery” taste.

Pictures provided by police and posted online showed a partially served dried fruit cake with white marzipan icing and maraschino cherries.Only one person at the family gathering did not eat the cake and was not injured.

According to local media, the police asked to exhume the body of the deceased husband of the woman who was making the cake. He died of food poisoning in September, and the police at the time considered his death to be natural, reports the BBC.

Very low levels inorganic and organic arsenic They are found in many foods, according to the National Institutes of Health.Testing is common because even slightly elevated levels of either form can cause symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, numbness and muscle cramps.

Inorganic arsenic is more toxic to humans than the mineral form of arsenic and the health effects are more severe, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. The Environmental Protection Agency has designated inorganic arsenic as a carcinogen or cancer-causing agent.