former head of China’s State Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, has been executed for corruption, the state-run Xinhua news agency has said.

He was convicted of taking 6.5m yuan ($850,000; £425,400) in bribes and of dereliction of duty at a trial in May.

The bribes were linked to sub-standard medicines, which were said to have led to the death of many people.

China had been criticised over a number of recent cases involving tainted goods, and correspondents say Zheng had become a symbol of the crisis.

Zheng had appealed against his sentence, arguing that it was “too severe” he nevertheless, confersed that he commited the crimes and co-operated with police.

His appeal heard in mid-June, was however rejected shortly afterwards.

Zheng, who headed the administration from 1998 to 2005, was found guilty of accepting bribes from firms to register their products without making them undergo the necessary checks.

Following his removal from office, the Chinese government announced an urgent review of about 170,000 medical licences that were awarded during his tenure at the agency.

Zheng’s sentence was seen as unusually harsh for such a senior figure, but the BBC’s Dan Griffiths in Beijing said the government hoped the execution showed it was getting to grips with the crisis.

The Chinese News Agency noted that food and drug safety standards vary widely across the country and reform will be a major challenge.

At a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday, the food and drug agency admitted that it had a huge job ahead to improve its supervision of safety standards.

“As a developing country, China’s food and drug supervision work began late and its foundations are weak,” spokeswoman Yan Jiangying said.

“Therefore, the food and drug safety situation is not something we can be optimistic about,” she added.

She said Zheng Xiaoyu’s case had “brought shame” on the department, adding that anyone who abused their power would be punished.

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