A Chinese dairy farmer has been sentenced to death for lacing her rival’s milk supply with industrial salt, causing the deaths of three young children.
A court in far western China’s Gansu province found Ma Xiuling guilty of deliberately adding nitrite to the milk of a dairy farming couple in revenge for some business disputes.
Reports said a month-old baby and two children aged under two died. Thirty-six people were treated in hospital.
Ma’s husband, Wu Guangquan, was sentenced to life in prison for buying the poison. The couple have lodged appeals.
China has been plagued by food safety scandals.
The government cracked down after the industrial chemical melamine was added to milk products to appear to boost the protein content. That 2008 scandal left six children dead and 300,000 needing treatment.
AP