47 people detained for fake milk powder incident

A total of 47 people have been detained for the inferior milk powder incident which was exposed to the public last month in Fuyang City, Anhui Province, with the involvement of 40 enterprises in 10 provinces, the local police said Monday.

Wang Dongxi, deputy head of Fuyang Public Security Bureau, said40 of those detained had been arrested with the approval of the procuratorate on charges of producing and marketing shoddy and fake products and on selling unhygienic food causing diseases.

According to Wang, most of the people arrested are locals.

An investigation found that at least 12 babies in the country have so far died of malnutrition after being fed with substandard milk powder made of starch, sugar, milk essence and other cheap ingredients but deficient in protein, fat, vitamin which are necessary to children's growth.