Death an option for some unfit food producers

BEIJING - The country's courts have been ordered to impose even harsher punishments for food safety crimes and work-related crimes concerning food safety.

The Supreme People's Court, in a recent notice, said courts should hand down the death sentence to those found guilty of food safety violations that result in human death, according to a statement from the supreme court on Friday.

If a person is found guilty of committing several crimes in one case, such as food safety crimes, the crime of producing and selling counterfeit and shoddy goods, infringement of intellectual property rights and illegal business dealings, he should be convicted of the crime with the harshest punishment and dealt with accordingly, the notice said.