Question mark over the Sanlu case

• Source: Global Times
• [02:31 November 26 2009]
• Comments

By Wu Meng

Two days ago, two men, Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping, were executed in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province. It was seen as official closure of the tainted milk scandal.

Last year, as a result of melamine being deliberately mixed in baby milk powder by Sanlu Dairy Company, thousands of children were diagnosed with kidney stones and hundreds suffered from renal failure. At least six families lost a child each.

With the two men responsible for the crime being brought to justice, at last, people can heave a sigh of relief. However, on a closer look at the case, we will notice the strange detail that the two men, who were executed, were not Sanlu's employees. As a matter of fact, Zhang was a producer of the chemical melamine which was the immediate cause of the tragedy while Geng was dealing with dairy farmers and added melamine to the milk before selling it to Sanlu.

On January 22, Tian Wenhua, former chairwoman and general manager of the Sanlu Group, was sentenced to life for producing and selling fake and substandard products. On March 26, the second-instance court upheld the verdict.

That leaves us with a big question. If people outside the company deserve a penalty as extreme as death, shouldn't those within Sanlu get the same, if not more severe, punishment? When two farmers are executed, the sentence awarded to the guilty in the Sanlu Group appears extremely lenient.

Looking back, Zhang and Geng can hardly be absolved of blame. But, if Sanlu had implemented a more foolproof system of testing raw milk or had been able to recall the melamine-tainted milk powder as soon as they knew about children falling sick, instead of trying to cover it up, we wouldn't have so many tragic stories and grieving families today.

Can it be true that Sanlu knew nothing about it? Is it fair to put the entire blame on the two farmers? Doubtless, they were guilty because of wanting to make money at any cost. Does that absolve Sanlu for the absence of testing procedures to guarantee genuineness of the product? The food company, not the suppliers of raw material, has primary responsibility for food safety. When there is a problem, they should take the rap, the most severe punishment.

On balance, while Zhang and Geng cannot be absolved, those in charge of testing the quality of raw milk are equally to blame for the tainted milk powder.

The question is whether Sanlu knew about the tainted product beforehand, and if it didn't, why it was without the procedures to know the quality of milk powder.

Unless this is answered, people cannot feel reassured about food safety, which is important for stability as well as survival.