Three await verdict for producing toxic dairy products in Shanghai
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Three people stood trial at a Shanghai court Thursday for allegedly producing and selling melamine-tainted dairy products, the court said.
The three were Shanghai Panda Dairy Co.'s corporate representative Wang Yuechao, general manager Hong Qide and deputy general manager Che Dehua, the Fengxian District People's Court said.
The three were accused of deliberately making milk flavoring with melamine-tainted condensed milk that was returned by a dealer from the southeastern province of Fujian in the wake of the 2008 toxic milk powder scandal.
At a meeting in December 2008 with another three who will stand trial in another case, the three defendants agreed to produce milk flavoring with returned dairy products to reduce economic losses, prosecutors said.
The dairy plant was found to have produced 6,520 canes of milk flavoring between Feb. 7 to April 21 last year. Some of the condensed milk it used had even expired. It sold 3,280 canes, among which 94 percent have been recalled.
Some of the milk flavoring was found to contain up to 34.1 mg of melamine per kilo, much higher than the government permitted level of 2.5 mg per kilo.
The three were officially arrested last June. The verdict will be announced soon.
Shanghai Panda Dairy was shut down after its milk powder and milk flavoring were found to contain excessive melamine last April.
Melamine can cause kidney stones and kidney failure. It was added to milk to artificially boost protein levels.
The toxic milk powder scandal in 2008 killed at least six infants and sickened 300,000 children across the country. Milk powder from 22 dairy plants, including Shanghai Panda Dairy, were then found to have excessive melamine.
Toxic milk resurfaced last year as some dairy plants used leftover melamine-tainted milk powder that should have been destroyed in 2008.
