BEIJING—Tiam Wenhua, the chairwoman of the Sanlu Group Chinese diary company, pleaded guilty to charges of “producing and selling fake or substandard products," state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Wenhua went on trial Dec. 31 over a tainted milk scandal that has killed at least six children and made thousands ill. She appeared with three other company executives at a court in Shijiazhuang, capital of northern Hebei province. It was unclear whether they could face the death penalty or life imprisonment.
Executives at Sanlu, partly owned by New Zealand's Fonterra group, failed to report cases of Chinese children developing kidney stones and other complications from drinking milk adulterated with melamine for months before the scandal broke in September.
Melamine, an industrial compound used in making plastic chairs, countertops, plates, flame retardants and even concrete, has been added to food to cheat nutrition tests due to its high nitrogen content.