Official disgraced in 2008 milk scandal scores prime position at agriculture ministry

Wang Zhicai, an official fired over the tainted milk scandal of 2008 that saw as many as 300,000 sickened and six infants dead, has been promoted to State Chief Veterinary Officer at China’s Ministry of Agriculture, Caixin reported, citing a personnel list on the ministry’s website. Wang had been dismissed as head of the ministry’s department of animal production in March of 2009 over the scandal, in which the addition of the industrial chemical melamine to milk to fake protein counts by farmers was covered up. But on July 12, one agricultural bureau site reported him as participating in the opening ceremony of a farming expo in Inner Mongolia.