Posted: May 31st, 2011 - 7:27pm
Source: UPI

BEIJING -- Food safety violators in China could be sentenced to death, the country's Supreme People's Court has ordered.
The provision is contained in a notice to lower courts issued by the highest court last week in the wake of a number of safety violation scandals that has rocked the country. The notice called for even harsher punishments than currently imposed for those convicted of food safety crimes, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The notice said lower courts should hand down death sentences to those found guilty of food safety violations that result in loss of human lives. The notice said "food safety concerns the people's interests and livelihoods, social stability and the future of socialism with Chinese characteristics."