A Chinese dairy farmer has been sentenced to death for lacing her rival’s milk supply with industrial salt, causing the deaths of three young children, state media report.

A local court in Pingliang city in far western China’s Gansu province found Ma Xiuling guilty of deliberately adding nitrite to the milk of a dairy farming couple in revenge for some business disputes, the official Xinhua News Agency reported today.

Earlier reports said a month-old baby and two children younger than 2 died. Xinhua said 36 people were hospitalised.

The Gansu Daily newspaper said Ma’s husband, Wu Guangquan, was sentenced to life in prison for purchasing the poison.

Both Ma and her husband have lodged appeals, Xinhua said.