BEIJING—Chinese state media say a man has been sentenced to death and two others given life imprisonment for producing and selling dirty cooking oil.

The black-market trade of recycled kitchen oil known as “gutter oil” which can contain carcinogens has been a chronic problem in China.

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The official Xinhua News Agency says a court in Jinan city in eastern Shandong province also sentenced seven other defendants in the case to five to 15 years in prison and fined them each up to 2 million yuan ($330,000).

Xinhua said three brothers began to produce the tainted oil in 2006 and sold it to 17 dealers in Shandong and Shanxi provinces for 52.4 million yuan ($8.6 million). One brother was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve and his personal assets seized.

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