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Beijing: The family of a baby whose death has been blamed on toxic milk filed a suit against one of China's largest dairies on Sunday, as another company ensnared in the scandal said it was a victim of unscrupulous subcontractors.
The lawsuit against Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co was filed over the May 1 death of 6-month-old Yi Kaixuan in the northwestern city of Lanzhou, the family's lawyer said.
It is the first to be filed over a child who died from drinking the tainted milk and asks for almost 1.1 million yuan (Dh587,200) in damages.
Milk collection stations and individual farmers have been accused of watering down milk to increase volume, then adding the industrial chemical melamine to increase protein levels. Melamine, used mainly in plastics and fertiliser, is high in nitrogen and can make milk appear to contain more protein, which is what quality tests measure.
The practice has been blamed for causing the deaths of four infants and sickening 54,000 others, with 10,000 still hospitalised.
Consumer confidence
Speaking on a television talk show late Sunday, the president of Bright Dairy said his company had been "too nice" toward milk collection stations that bought milk from farmers. The comments appeared aimed at restoring consumer confidence in the wake of the scandal that has dinged the reputation of some of China's best-known food companies.
"We thought they were operating in good conscience," Guo Benheng said on state television's economics channel.
"I'd say we made an innocent mistake, although an innocent mistake is still a mistake. We are definitely making corrections," Guo said, according to a transcript of his remarks posted on official websites yesterday.
Appearing on the same show, the vice-president of Mengniu Dairy, one of the country's largest, said the scandal had affected the company profoundly.
The Yi family's lawyer, Dong Junming, said he turned the lawsuit in at Lanzhou's No 2 Intermediate People's Court where clerks told him they would notify him today as to whether it would be accepted.
Toxic meal: dozens ill after feasts
Some 170 wedding banquet guests were rushed to hospital in north China when powdered rust remover was added to the pot instead of salt after they all decided it needed added flavour, Chinese media said.
In a bizarre coincidence, 61 wedding guests were taken to hospital with similar symptoms a day earlier after a duck-and-donkey-meat banquet in northwest China.
The bride's father invited 170 friends and relatives to the wedding banquet at a village in northern Hebei province on Friday, the night before the nuptials, the Beijing News said.
Someone added what he or she thought was salt - several times. An hour later, the guests were being rushed to hospital.
A day earlier, 61 wedding guests suffered food poisoning at a banquet in impoverished Gansu province, local authorities said.
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