Brazilian police are investigating a Christmas cake that killed three people

Authorities in Brazil have launched an investigation after three women died and several others were hospitalized after a family ate Christmas cake laced with arsenic, police told local media.

The three women – local media say they are aged 43, 58 and 65 – died after eating cake at a family gathering on December 23 in Torres, a coastal town in southern Brazil.

The woman who baked the cake and the 10-year-old child who also ate the cake were hospitalized and are being treated for poisoning.

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

The police said they also found a lot of expired food when they searched the woman’s house, CBS News’ partner BBC reported. The police added that it is not yet clear whether the poisoning was intentional.

The cake test is expected next week.

The news website G1 said that the police are waiting until the condition of the woman in the hospital improves to ask her questions. Meanwhile, evidence was taken from 15 other people as part of the investigation.

So far, no case has been opened and the police have not said that it is being treated as a murder case.

Reports say that the woman who made this cake was getting along with other family members, and it did not appear that there was any disagreement.

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

Photos provided by police and posted online showed a crushed dried fruit cake with a white marzipan frosting and maraschino cherries on top. In this meeting only one family did not eat the cake and was not affected.

According to the local media, the police asked for the body of the husband of the woman who made the cake to be exhumed. He died in September of food poisoning, and his death was ruled natural at the time by police, the BBC reported.

Very low levels of inorganic and organic arsenic are found in many food products, according to the National Institutes of Health. Testing is routine, as slightly elevated levels of any kind can cause symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, numbness and muscle spasms.

Inorganic arsenic is more dangerous to humans than the naturally occurring form of mineral arsenic, and the health effects from exposure are severe, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. The Environmental Protection Agency has listed inorganic arsenic as a carcinogen, or substance that causes cancer.