Economy
Executives stand trial over melamine milk
By Qian Yanfeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-26 07:48
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SHANGHAI: Three executives from the company that allegedly sold recycled melamine-tainted milk products last year went on trial yesterday, facing charges that could result in death sentences.
The executives from Shanghai Panda Dairy Co Ltd were charged by the Shanghai Fengxian district prosecutors' office with producing and selling toxic food, a charge that has a maximum penalty of death.
The milk products were left over from the 2008 tainted milk powder scandal, which killed at least six babies and sickened 300,000.
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The indictment showed that from Feb 7 to April 21 last year, Shanghai Panda Dairy produced more than 6,520 cans of condensed milk - half of which were sold - by recycling previously produced milk products, some of which had been tainted with the industrial chemical melamine.
After the scandal broke, officials launched a nationwide crackdown on the contaminated products as well as raw materials. Officials ordered all the toxic products to be destroyed, but some were not.
Subsequent tests showed some of the reproduced milk products had up to 34.1 mg/kg of melamine, while the government's current allowable limit of melamine is 1 mg/kg in baby milk food and 2.5 mg/kg in liquid milk products. The levels were set after the scandal broke out on Sept 11, 2008.
The three suspects were detained by local police in April last year.
The indictment said the three suspects were fully aware of the potential hazards of the toxic chemical, yet they went ahead with the manufacturing regardless of the law. They should bear criminal responsibility, it said.
The tainted milk scandal was one of the country's most serious food safety breaches. In September 2008, 22 dairy companies, including Shanghai Panda, were found producing milk products, mainly baby formula, tainted with melamine.
Melamine is an industrial chemical that may cause kidney stones and kidney failure among children. Producers added the chemical to milk products to fool quality inspectors about its protein content.
In total, 21 people were tried and sentenced in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, last year for involvement in the scandal. Two received death sentences, one got a suspended death sentence and the other 18 were jailed for between two years and life.
