Four people involved in China's tainted dairy scandal were charged with endangering public security at a local court on Monday in Shijiazhuang, capital of northern Hebei Province.

The Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court began the hearing for Gao Junjie, Xue Jianzhong, Zhang Yanjun and Xiao Yu (Gao's wife) at 8:00 AM. The court heard the four produced and sold more than 200 tons of "protein powder" that was made of melamine, malt dextrin and whey powder.

In August 2007, Gao and Xue bought six tons of protein powder at a price of more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,462) per ton and sold the powder to make profit.

Unsatisfied with profit from the transaction, Gao, Zhang and Xiao decided to develop protein powder of their own under the proposal of Xue. The four produced more than 200 tons of the powder between December 2007 and August 2008.

The powder was added to milk to increase protein levels.

The prosecution held that the protein powder produced and sold by the four brought about serious damages to the health and life of consumers -- especially infants -- and that the four should be punished for endangering public security.

The four could face at least 10 years in jail or even death penalty over the crime of endangering public security, according to the Criminal Law.

Meanwhile, five other suspects involved in the scandal went on trial in three local courts in Hebei on Monday, facing charges of producing and selling poisonous food.

The courts have not announced the verdicts against the nine suspects.

Tian Wenhua, former board chairwoman and general manager of Sanlu Group, the company that was at the epicenter of the scandal, will face trial Wednesday in the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court.

Tian faces charges of producing and selling fake or substandard commodities, according to court sources.

Shijiazhuang-based Sanlu Group stopped production on September 12. A bankruptcy petition for Sanlu has been filed in the face of a 1.1 billion yuan debt, the city government said Thursday.

On Friday, six people involved in the scandal stood trial in four courts in Hebei on charges of producing, selling or adding protein powder that contained melamine to raw milk. The courts have not announced the verdicts.

The Ministry of Health has said it was likely the contamination killed six babies. Another 294,000 infants suffered from urinary problems such as kidney stones.

(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2008)