China-Dairy food scandal.

CHINA.

SIX CHINESE DAIRY PRODUCERS ON TRIAL.

Two of the accused appeared in court on Friday, Boxing day and six men are now on trial for their lives in Beijing, for their part in the melamine milk scandal that killed 6 babies and caused 52,000 infants to be hospitalized.

Among those in court was the owner of the workshop, that was allegedly the countries largest source of melamine. Zhang Yujun,40, ran a workshop on the outskirts of Jinan in the eastern Shandong district of China. According to police he sold his product knowingly to dairy farmers and wholesalers, to add the watered down milk and raise the protein level.

Prosecutors claim that he produced 776 tons of melamine, between October 2007 and August 2008, he is alleged to have sold 600 tons for more than one million US dollars, to the dairy industry.

The second man in the case Zhang Yanzhang,34, is accused of buying and selling 230 tons of the product

There are four other men accused of adding the melamine to the milk, then selling the milk to the Sanlu group. They are Zhang Heshe, Zhang Taizhen, Yang Jingmin and Gu Guopping who are accused of adding 70 tons of melamine to milk, that was used for baby formula.

The trial will continue next week in three separate courts in the region, the penalty is death by hanging or life in prison, if they are found guilty.

Melamine can artificially inflate protein levels in milk, without easy detection allowing farmers to water down milk and add to their profits.

There are 22 dairy companies involved the milk and melamine scandal. It was revealed in Beijing on Friday Boxing day, that they are going to pay compensation to the families of 300,000 infants that were sick caused by consuming the contaminated milk.

The firms have also agreed to create a fund, to cover the medical expenses that the families may incur at a future date.