A court on Thursday convicted former Sanlu Group chief Tian Wenhua, 66, of "manufacturing and selling fake or substandard products" in the contaminated milk scandal that last year killed at least six babies.

Her lawyer said she would plead not guilty if the appeal is allowed to go ahead, arguing that the court was wrong to say milk powder produced by Sanlu after August 2 damaged people's health.

Sanlu was the first and biggest dairy producer found to have sold dairy products laced with melamine, a chemical used to make plastics which was mixed into watered-down milk to give the appearance of higher protein levels.

It continued to allow the use of melamine in its milk products after August 1, when authorities uncovered the contamination, but limited the content to what Tian argues were safe levels, Xinhua said.

Tian's lawyer said she admitted that milk powder produced before August 2 was damaging and that she should instead be charged with "liability in a major accident," which is punishable by up to seven years in jail.

Tian was among three people jailed for life over the scandal, which also sickened thousands of children and led to Chinese products being pulled from shelves worldwide.

Two men were given the death penalty after being found guilty of endangering public security by adding the melamine into the milk and then selling it on to middle men.

One other person was given a suspended death penalty, a sentence that routinely gets commuted to life in jail, while others were imprisoned for terms ranging from two to 15 years.

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