Another official in the northern Chinese city of Shijiazhuang has been sacked as a baby formula contamination scandal spreads in the country.

Ji Chuntang was removed from his post as vice secretary of the Shijiazhuang Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Ji will also be fired as mayor of Shijiazhuang according to legal procedures, said a spokesperson of the CPC Hebei Provincial Committee.

Tian Wenhua, former board chairwoman and general manager of Sanlu Group, the producer which was first exposed for the contamination, was detained.

More than 6,200 infants across the country developed kidney stones after drinking Sanlu's baby formula which was tainted by melamine, a chemical believed to help increase the protein content in the milk. Three babies have died.

Four officials in the Hebei provincial capital of Shijiazhuang were fired on Tuesday.

They included Zhang Fawang, vice mayor in charge of agricultural production; Sun Renhu, director of the city's Animal Husbandry Administration; Zhang Yi, director of Shijiazhuang Municipal Food and Drug Administration Bureau director; and Li Zhiguo, director of the city's Quality and Technical Inspection Bureau.

(Xinhua News Agency ?September 18, 2008)