China sentences producer of melamine to death

CHINA: A Chinese court on Thursday sentenced a man to death for making and selling “protein powder” laced with melamine that killed at least six infants and made nearly 300,000 ill when it was added to milk.

Zhang Yujun was the first person to be sentenced in a closely followed trial of executives, businessmen and officials in the northern city of Shijiazhuang that was home to Sanlu Group, the now-bankrupt firm at the heart of the scandal.

Another man was sentenced to life in prison for his role in peddling the powder which contained melamine, an industrial compound used to cheat nutrition tests because its high nitrogen content mimics protein in some controls.

Zhang had made and sold over 600 tonnes of the powder between October 2007 and August 2008, worth around 6.8 million yuan ($994,700), the official China Daily quoted prosecutors saying earlier this month.

The powder was bought by middlemen who added it to pooled, watered-down milk from farmers that was then sold on to Sanlu.

Sanlu failed to report cases of Chinese children developing kidney stones and other complications from drinking their milk months before news of the problem broke. Its former general manager, Tian Wenhua, is also expected to be sentenced on Thursday on charges of producing and selling fake or substandard products. Sanlu is partly owned by New Zealand’s Fonterra group.

Shijiazhuang: Thursday,

Reuters