China Dairy Farmer Sentenced to Death - California and Washington Raw Milk Farmers Count their Blessings
Or, at least they are happy not to live in China.
The AP headline out of China this morning was shocking – “China farmer gets death penalty for poisoning milk.” I am not much of a fan of the death penalty. And, there are clear dissimilarities between what happened in China and the two E. coli outbreaks that hit five consumers of California’s Organic Pastures and three consumers of Washington’s Cozy Vale Dairies just before Thanksgiving. Here is the full AP story:
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, state media said Friday.
China has been plagued by a slew of food safety scandals. The government cracked down after the industrial chemical melamine was added to milk products to appear to bolster the protein content. That 2008 scandal had nationwide reach and left six children dead and sickened 300,000.
But the latest case was isolated. A local court in Pingliang city 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, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Earlier reports said a month-old baby and two children younger than 2 died. Xinhua said 36 people were hospitalized.
The Gansu Daily newspaper said Ma's husband, Wu Guangquan, was sentenced to life in prison for purchasing the poison.
Comments (3)
Read through and enter the discussion by using the form at the endSteve - December 10, 2011 6:29 AM
While we're in the Counting Your Blessings Dept -- there's also reports that they also execute LAWYERS....
Paul F Schwarz - December 11, 2011 1:02 PM
When you see my mother crying after visiting her husband of over 68 years you may what to change your tune Steve! My father doesn't know my mother. My father ate a piece of cantaloupe. He is still in a nursing facility after a hospital stay of over 5 weeks. He hasn't spoken my name since the 21st of October! When a business puts out a product to the public that isn't safe that business should be held accountable!
Sam - December 12, 2011 8:54 AM
It's too bad ignorance is not painful.