CHINA: Two executed over tainted milk scandal - report

By: just-food.com | 24 November 2009

Two men were executed in China today (24 November) for their involvement in China's contaminated milk scandal that killed six babies and made 300,000 ill, according to reports.

The men had been sentenced to death earlier this year by a court in the northern city of Shijiazhuang for producing and selling toxic ingredients that ended up in the infant milk powder.

Milk producer Geng Jinping was convicted of producing and selling toxic food to dairy companies. Tian Wenhua, former chairman of the Sanlu Group, the dairy firm at the heart of the scandal, was sentenced to life in jail. Three of her colleagues were given sentences ranging from five to 15 years.

They were among 21 sentences handed down by the court in northern China.

Geng Jinping was executed alongside Zhang Yujun after their appeals were turned down in March, Xinhua news agency said

According to Xinhua, Zhang was convicted of producing and selling more than 770 tonnes of protein powder laced with the industrial chemical melamine from July 2007 to August 2008.

The Xinhua report did not say where the men were executed.

Sectors: Dairy, Food safety