The two Chinese producers who tainted their fresh milk that was then used in the production of infant milk formula have been arrested and could face death if convicted, according to China Daily, the state-run newspaper.
China’s Health Ministry said that two infants have died and 1,253 babies were sickened by the tainted formula, including 340 who are hospitalized and 53 are considered to be in serious condition. The illnesses include malnutrition and kidney stones.
While 19 people were detained for questioning, the only ones arrested so far are two brothers who supplied about three tons of milk each day to the Sanlu Group, which manufactured the baby formula, the paper said.
Investigators said the brothers — surnamed Geng and residents of the city of Shijiazhuang — confessed to watering down the raw milk and mixing in tripolycyanamide, also known as melamine. They said they did it to recover losses suffered when the factory rejected earlier milk shipments, the paper reported.
Sanlu Group has recalled more than 8,200 tons of the tainted formula following reports of babies developing kidney stones, Xinhua said. Sanlu, one of China’s leading dairy producers, has also sealed off more than 2,100 tons of contaminated product, and another 700 tons still need to be recalled, the news agency said.
Chinese officials said none of the tainted formula was exported, except for “a fraction of the milk powder sold to Taiwan for food processing.”