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BEIJING - FOUR people went on trial in north China on Monday in connection with the country's tainted-milk scandal, bringing the number before the courts to 10, state media said.
On Friday, six people suspected of involvement in the scandal in which hundreds of thousands of infants fell ill and at least six died went on trial in the northern province of Hebei on charges of producing, selling or adding protein powder that contained melamine to raw milk.
Melamine is an industrial compound used in plastic chairs among other things and added to cheat nutrition tests.
The courts have not announced any verdicts.
The four who went on trial on Monday appeared in court in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei and headquarters of the Sanlu Group, the company at the heart of the scandal, Xinhua news agency said.
Tian Wenhua, the former board chairwoman and general manager of Sanlu, goes on trial on Wednesday.
After covering up the problem for several months, Sanlu admitted in September that it had sold melamine-tainted milk powder, causing kidney stones and other complications in children.
Sanlu, which halted production on Sept 12, has filed for bankruptcy and has some 1.1 billion yuan ($230.6 million) in debt, Xinhua said, citing the Shijiazhuang city government.
The Sanlu dairy group is partly owned by New Zealand's Fonterra group.
The scandal battered faith in Chinese-made products after a series of food- and product-safety scares and led to recalls of Chinese-made diary products around the world. -- REUTERS
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