Eight more senior government officials have been fired or punished for slack supervision over the tainted Sanlu milk powder scandal, the Communist Party of China's disciplinary watchdog said on Friday.

The officials were from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the ministries of agriculture and health, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the State Food and Drug Administration.

Last year 10 people have been already convicted and sentenced to jail or death in lawsuits related to the melamine scandal, including Tian Wenhua, former chairwoman of Sanlu Group who was sentenced to jail for life, and a man named Geng Jinping who was sentenced to death for manufacturing and selling toxic food.

The melamine-tainted milk powder left at least six infants dead and almost 300,000 ill in China.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2009)