Two former officials at a Snow Brand Milk Products factory have been given suspended prison sentences for negligence that resulted in a mass outbreak of food poisoning in 2000.

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Osamu Kubota, former head of the Taiki factory in Hokkaido, which produced the contaminated milk, was given a two-year prison sentence suspended for three years and a ¥120,000 (US$1,000) fine. Koichi Izumi, former chief of the skimmed milk manufacturing division was given an 18-month sentence, suspended for two years, reported Dow Jones International News.


Snow Brand has been struggling to regain consumer confidence since the food poisoning outbreak but has been hit since by a beef mislabelling scandal.


The company recently reported its fourth consecutive year of losses. To read more, click here.

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