More dairy managers arrested in tainted milk scandal in central China

4 arrested in China’s melamine scandal

BEIJING — Three dairy plant managers and one milk powder dealer in central China have been arrested for allegedly selling melamine-tainted milk products shortly after a 10-day crackdown was announced, state media reported on Wednesday.

General manager Zhang Wenxue and vice general managers Zhu Shuming and Tong Tianhu of the Lekang Dairy Company in Weinan city in the central province of Sha’anxi were charged with manufacturing and selling tainted milk powder, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Ma Shuanglin, a milk powder dealer who worked with Lekang in distributing the suspected tainted products, was also arrested, Xinhua said.

The report said the men were suspected of overseeing an operation that mixed untainted milk powder with melamine-infused powder to fool inspectors testing for protein and to stretch profits. Both melamine and protein are high in nitrogen.

Lekang was among the companies named in the original melamine scandal in 2008, when six children died and 300,000 were sickened after drinking baby formula with melamine. Dozens of officials, dairy executives and farmers were punished.

The industrial chemical melamine, which is used to manufacture plastics and fertilizer, can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.

Since the scandal broke, China vowed to implement stricter safety measures and step up inspections on the dairy industry.