Life sentence for poisoning dumplings

A man in Hebei province was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for poisoning frozen dumplings, some of which were exported to Japan, making 13 people ill in 2008.

Lyu Yueting, a former worker at Tianyang Food Plant in Hebei province, stood trial at Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court on July 30. The 39-year-old confessed that he injected insecticide into the dumplings in the factory's refrigeration storage five times in 2007.

Some of the poisoned dumplings were exported to Japan and some were sold in Chengde, Hebei province, making 13 people from Japan and China ill.

The incident sparked worldwide concern over food safety in China before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Tianyang was forced to shut down and recall all its products, causing direct losses of at least 5.5 million yuan ($893,000) as of Jan 28, 2010.

Lyu worked at Tianyang for 15 years by 2008 as a temporary worker. He said he poisoned the dumplings to gain attention from management to raise his salary.

After poisoning the dumplings with methamidophos, a type of pesticide, Lyu said he wrote three anonymous letters to the company warning that the food had been contaminated, but the management took no action.