Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has ordered full investigation into the inferior milk powder accident, in which 13 babies died of malnutrition, and promised severe punishment for those responsible for the accident according to law.

The premier's instruction, which was made available to Xinhua Thursday, ordered the State Food and Drug Administration to set up an investigation group in cooperation with other central government departments and local governments involved in full-scale investigation into inferior milk powder accidents in Fuyang City, Anhui Province, and other areas.

The premier called for thorough investigation into the source of the products, its dealers and the areas where the milk powder was sold, and promised proper medical services for the victims.

Wen also ordered continued efforts to rectify the food and drug market as a priority for the country's campaign to regulate its economic and market order in a bid to ensure food safety and health of the general public.

At a meeting held Tuesday by the State Council, China's cabinet, it was decided that a special investigation team should be dispatched immediately to Fuyang to investigate the accident.

The team, headed by Zheng Xiaoyu, director of the State Food and Drug Administration, is composed of officials and experts from six other ministries or bureaus, including the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Public Health and Ministry of Commerce.

Thirteen infants in east China's Anhui Province have died of nutritional deficiencies from consuming substandard milk powder.

According to a recent investigation by local authorities, 171 infants suffered from malnutrition after being fed with milk powder deficient in protein and other nutrients. Two are still being treated in hospital.

The majority of them live in rural areas in Fuyang. The parents bought cheap milk powder, which contained little nutritional ingredients at rural shops in Fuyang. The children developed swollen heads, while their bodies failed to grow properly.

The news aroused widespread repercussions after it was broadcast on television Monday. The Anhui provincial government issued an urgent circular Tuesday, calling for immediate rectification of the milk powder market and severe punishment of lawbreakers.

Provincial Governor Wang Jinshan said in a fax to the general office of the provincial government Monday that immediate measures must be taken to investigate where the milk powder came from and the responsibilities of various parties, and how to compensate the victims.

So far, Fuyang City has confiscated 6,110 bags of inferior milk powder and sealed 12,862 bags of milk powder. Investigation of key milk powder wholesale agents is under way.

Police in Fuyang City of east China's Anhui Province have detained five principal wholesale dealers who sold substandard milk powder that led to the death of 13 infants.

Two wholesale dealers, named Ma Lanhua and Liu Biao, have revealed the places where they had bought the milk powder.

During a raid on milk powder markets in Fuyang City, the industrial and commercial department found 42 cases of substandard milk powder.

The inspection showed 45 types of substandard milk powder were sold on the retail market in Fuyang City. They were produced by 141 factories Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hebei, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces, Beijing and Shanghai municipalities and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The products are sold in 149 brands.

The local government is working hard to find the source of the inferior milk powder.

Reports of the accident triggered inspections of milk powder across the country. Similar inferior mild powder was also blamed for malnutrition of a dozen babies in Heze City in neighboring Shandong Province, east China, China's Central Television Station reported Wednesday.

Jiangsu Province, east China, and Beijing also launched inspection of milk powder products on the market.

(Xinhua News Agency April 23, 2004)