More than 30 people became ill last week after eating Epiphany bread from a Santa Ana bakery, yet the cause does not appear to be simple contamination due to unsanitary food handling: lab tests on Friday detected a synthetic drug. The bread, also known as Rosca de Reyes or Three Kings Cake, was distributed on Jan. 5 and 6 to at least 10 retail outlets in cities across southern California, the Orange County Health Care Agency stated in a news release. Cholula's Bakery in Santa Ana, which distributed the holiday bread, has been closed pending investigations by the health agency and police.

Police Corporal Anthony Bertagna told KTLA 5 News the lab results are preliminary and it may take a week to understand exactly what happened. KTLA found the number of people who became ill to be higher than the health agency count, upward of 40 people who said they lost feeling in their bodies, blacked out, hallucinated, or fainted.

Bertagna said three separate area hospitals notified the police on Monday after nearly 20 people arrived in their emergency rooms reporting nausea, hallucinations, and other symptoms. “The one common factor was they had all eaten the same bread,” he told the Los Angeles Times. None of those poisoned had to be admitted to the hospital.

Health officials advised the retailers who purchased the bread from Cholula’s to remove any unsold product from their shelves, while instructing customers who purchased the bread to discard any uneaten portions. The circular-shaped bread is popular among immigrant Christian families during the holidays.