BEIJING, Dec 30: Two more suspects in China’s tainted milk scandal went on trial on Tuesday, bringing to 17 the number of people who have faced court in high-profile proceedings over the nation’s worst food safety case in years.

Brothers Geng Jinping and Geng Jinzhu are accused of making and selling milk tainted with melamine, state-run television CCTV said, broadcasting images of the two standing in court with their heads bowed in front of the judges.

At least six babies in China died this year and 294,000 fell ill after drinking milk laced with melamine, which is normally used to make plastic.

The chemical was mixed into watered-down milk to make it appear richer in protein but it caused severe kidney and urinary tract problems in babies who drank contaminated milk powder.

The Gengs are accused of being “middlemen” who added melamine to milk, which was then sold to Sanlu, the largest Chinese dairy producer to have become embroiled in the scandal, and other dairy firms, CCTV said.

Geng Jinping, the former boss of a milk station, and Geng Jinzhu, a driver, had allegedly mixed 434kg of melamine-laced ‘protein powder’ with over 900,000kg of milk beginning October last year, CCTV said.

They sold products worth more than

2.8 million yuan ($405,000) before being caught in September, according to the report.

The pair, who had bought the powder from two other suspects who have not yet stood trial, appeared at a court in Shijiazhuang city, Hebei province, where Sanlu is based.

On Monday, nine other people suspected of trading or producing the tainted additives went on trial in Shijiazhuang and surrounding districts, while six others were tried on Friday last week.

The trials have been very high-profile in China, broadcast in daily televised news bulletins — a rare occurrence in China where court cases are usually conducted behind closed doors.

In China, trials often last just one day and verdicts are announced soon after. However the verdicts in the milk trials have not yet been announced, with state press reporting only that they would be at an “appropriate time”.

The scandal, which emerged in September after initially being covered up, shook the foundations of a Chinese food industry that was already beset by repeated safety problems.—AFP