Two persons accused of producing inferior milk powder which caused the death of one baby in Weihai city were sentenced five to seven years in prison, the local court reported Monday.

The director of the milk powder factory, surnamed Li, was given a seven-year sentence with a fine of 500,000 yuan (61,700 US dollars), and the deputy director in charge of technical affairs, surnamed Liu, was sentenced three years in prison with a five-year reprieve, according to the ruling of the Huancui district court of the city.

Starting from last year, quite a few babies in Anhui and Jiangsu provinces were reported to suffer from malnutrition due to inferior milk powder. Among the babies using the inferior milk powder, one infant girl in Anhui died of malnutrition.

Investigations showed that all these babies were fed with the same milk powder, which was produced in the coastal city of Weihai in Shandong Province, with brand of "Lezichun."

From 2002 to 2004, Li and Liu arranged the production of the Lezichun brand substandard milk powder though they were aware the formula was beneath the national standards.

So far, 240,000 packages of such inferior milk powder have been confiscated, valued at 900,000 yuan (112,500 US dollars).

Source: Xinhua