Panda trio jailed over melamine double dip
By Xu Fang |
March 4, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THREE executives of Shanghai Panda Dairy received jail terms of between three and 4 1/2 years yesterday over producing and selling products tainted with melamine, the potentially deadly chemical at the center of a national scandal two years ago.
Fengxian District People's Court also fined the trio from 200,000 yuan (US$29,300) to 400,000 yuan.
According to criminal law, people who produce and sell food containing harmful material face a maximum sentence of five years.
If the toxic food causes fatalities or other serious consequences, the maximum is the death sentence.
Judges said Panda's products did not cause serious health problems but handed out the maximum five-year term to Wang Yuechao, Panda's deputy general manager and legal representative.
Wang, 47, a Zhejiang Province native, registered Panda in 2001.
Saving costs
A Panda retailer in Jinjiang City, Fujian Province, requested a refund for 1,300 tainted Panda condensed milk products in October 2008, when the melamine milk powder scandal was center stage.
Wang, Hong Qide, former general manager of Panda, and Chen Dehua, former deputy general manager, hatched a plan to reuse the returned condensed milk in other products to save costs.
The defendants knew some of it contained excessive melamine and had passed use-by date, prosecutors said.
From February 9, 2009, to April 21, 2009, the firm produced 6,520 tins of condensed milk using the returned products as raw material and sold 3,280 cans. So far, 94 percent of the sold condensed milk has been recalled.
Inspectors of the Shanghai Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision found problems with the products in a check last April.
'Better attitude'
Maximum melamine content was 34.1 milligrams per kilogram in some cans. Only 2.5 mg/kg is permissible.
Though all defendants denied central involvement, the court decided they should take direct responsibility.
Hong was jailed for 4 1/2 years and Chen three years because he had "a better attitude."
The court said their behavior threatened social safety because they knew about the dangers of the additive as Panda had been punished for producing milk powder with excessive melamine in 2008.
Tian Wenhua, former board chairwoman of Sanlu Group in north China's Hebei Province, received a life sentence in January 2009 for producing melamine-tainted milk powder and hiding the truth from the public.
The scandal, starting with Sanlu, killed at least six babies and sickened about 300,000 others across China.
Fengxian District People's Court also fined the trio from 200,000 yuan (US$29,300) to 400,000 yuan.
According to criminal law, people who produce and sell food containing harmful material face a maximum sentence of five years.
If the toxic food causes fatalities or other serious consequences, the maximum is the death sentence.
Judges said Panda's products did not cause serious health problems but handed out the maximum five-year term to Wang Yuechao, Panda's deputy general manager and legal representative.
Wang, 47, a Zhejiang Province native, registered Panda in 2001.
Saving costs
A Panda retailer in Jinjiang City, Fujian Province, requested a refund for 1,300 tainted Panda condensed milk products in October 2008, when the melamine milk powder scandal was center stage.
Wang, Hong Qide, former general manager of Panda, and Chen Dehua, former deputy general manager, hatched a plan to reuse the returned condensed milk in other products to save costs.
The defendants knew some of it contained excessive melamine and had passed use-by date, prosecutors said.
From February 9, 2009, to April 21, 2009, the firm produced 6,520 tins of condensed milk using the returned products as raw material and sold 3,280 cans. So far, 94 percent of the sold condensed milk has been recalled.
Inspectors of the Shanghai Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision found problems with the products in a check last April.
'Better attitude'
Maximum melamine content was 34.1 milligrams per kilogram in some cans. Only 2.5 mg/kg is permissible.
Though all defendants denied central involvement, the court decided they should take direct responsibility.
Hong was jailed for 4 1/2 years and Chen three years because he had "a better attitude."
The court said their behavior threatened social safety because they knew about the dangers of the additive as Panda had been punished for producing milk powder with excessive melamine in 2008.
Tian Wenhua, former board chairwoman of Sanlu Group in north China's Hebei Province, received a life sentence in January 2009 for producing melamine-tainted milk powder and hiding the truth from the public.
The scandal, starting with Sanlu, killed at least six babies and sickened about 300,000 others across China.
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