Prison for 2 in poisoning that sickened 84, killed 1
By Hu Min |
December 21, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
TWO people who used the wrong additive in a popular snack in May, poisoning 85 diners, one of whom died, received prison terms in a court in central China's Hunan Province, Xiao Xiang Morning Herald reported yesterday.
Zhang Lumiao mistook a pack of sodium nitrite - used in small amounts to preserve meat - as MSG or monosodium glutamate, a common flavor enhancer, officials said.
She passed it to her boyfriend, Fan Zhizhen, who didn't check it and added it to liangpi, a noodle-like snack, the Longhui County People's Court heard.
Of the 85 poisoned, 80 were students of the Longhui No. 2 High School, including the one who died.
Sodium nitrite can be toxic in larger amounts and is banned in most foods.
Zhang was sentenced to eight months behind bars and Fan was sentenced to four years. The pair was also ordered to pay 580,000 yuan (US$93,548) as compensation, the paper said.
Fan, a street vender, had sodium nitrite on hand because he had been adding small amounts, illegally, to milk tea, thinking it would act as a preservative. While there were no known acute poisoning cases from the milk tea, the additive became deadly when used in larger amounts on the liangpi, officials said.
The pair said they accepted the judgment and would not appeal.
Hu Minyu, a nutrition and food hygiene professor with Central South University, said sodium nitrite cannot make milk tea fresh, and it will only cause harm if used that way.
Zhang Lumiao mistook a pack of sodium nitrite - used in small amounts to preserve meat - as MSG or monosodium glutamate, a common flavor enhancer, officials said.
She passed it to her boyfriend, Fan Zhizhen, who didn't check it and added it to liangpi, a noodle-like snack, the Longhui County People's Court heard.
Of the 85 poisoned, 80 were students of the Longhui No. 2 High School, including the one who died.
Sodium nitrite can be toxic in larger amounts and is banned in most foods.
Zhang was sentenced to eight months behind bars and Fan was sentenced to four years. The pair was also ordered to pay 580,000 yuan (US$93,548) as compensation, the paper said.
Fan, a street vender, had sodium nitrite on hand because he had been adding small amounts, illegally, to milk tea, thinking it would act as a preservative. While there were no known acute poisoning cases from the milk tea, the additive became deadly when used in larger amounts on the liangpi, officials said.
The pair said they accepted the judgment and would not appeal.
Hu Minyu, a nutrition and food hygiene professor with Central South University, said sodium nitrite cannot make milk tea fresh, and it will only cause harm if used that way.
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