Beijing
China has sentenced the former head of its food and drug agency to death for crimes related to the scandal over tainted pet food. Zheng Xiaoyu, 62, headed the agency from 1998 to 2005. He was convicted of taking bribes worth $850,000 from eight companies in exchange for certifying their faulty products as safe. During his tenure, dozens of people in China died of food–related causes, including at least 13 babies who were fed fake powdered milk. Overseas, American cats and dogs began dropping dead this year from contaminated wheat gluten and rice protein China exported for use in many brands of pet food. The harsh sentence is seen as China’s way of reassuring trade partners that it takes food safety seriously.
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