Reuters reports Chinese police have detained three people suspected of selling milk powder tainted with melamine, state media said on Thursday, the industrial chemical involved in a massive toxic food scandal last year.

The three were detained in northwestern Shaanxi province on Dec. 2, before tainted goods reached stores, the official Xinhua news agency said.
It named the three as Liu Ping, general manager of Shaanxi Jinqiao Diary Company, and two of the firm’s employees and said they were detained for “the suspected crime of producing and selling toxic food.”

The report, citing police, said they sold 5.25 tonnes of melamine-laced milk powder to Nanning Yueqian Food Additive Company, based in the southern region of Guangxi.

The powder was seized on Nov. 18, so did not make its way into the market, Xinhua added.

By Shane Dingman. Read the full article.