A court in East China's Zhejiang Province Wednesday sentenced 46 people for processing and selling some 1,000 sick or dead pigs in a separate controversy swirling around China's porcine industry after more than 7,500 swine carcasses were pulled from Shanghai's Huangpu River over the last week.

Zhang Xingbing, the lead suspect, in 2010 set up a slaughterhouse in Wenling, a city in the southern Zhejiang Province, where he slaughtered diseased or deceased pigs purchased from Chen Guanghua, an employee of the State-run Wenling meat processing factory.

Chen, through his work connections, helped Zhang acquire sick pigs from local pig farmers for which he was paid 4,000 yuan ($643). Zhang then slaughtered and processed the pigs and sold them as meat from healthy swine.

Both Zhang and Chen were convicted of producing and selling unsafe food. The pork they sold was found to contain proteus mirabilis, a virus that can cause severe food poisoning.

Zhang was sentenced by the People's Court in Wenling to six and a half years in prison and fined for 800,000 yuan ($128,700) for selling an estimated 6,218 kilograms of tainted pork between 2010 and 2012. Chen was sentenced to five years in prison. The 44 other people convicted in the case received sentences ranging from six months to five years.

The verdict coincides with the thousands of dead pigs found in Shanghai's Huangpu River, which shocked the city's residents and raised fears of contaminated water supplies which officials said have not been affected. Another 944 dead pigs were recovered on Thursday, according to Xinmin Evening News.

The source of the discarded pigs is still being investigated but earlier reports suggested they came from farms near the upstream city of Jiaxing in Zhejiang Province.

Dai Xiayou, director of the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau in Wenling, told the Global Times on Thursday that the government requires farmers to sterilize and bury their pigs that die from a sickness.

"People caught dumping or selling sick or dead pigs will be fined up to 2,000 yuan and those who sell or process sick pigs will face criminal charges," said Dai.

Pig farmers in Zhejiang are required to sign letters of commitment with the government binding them to regulations governing the disposal of pigs that die on the farm. In return for proper disposal of the carcasses the government pays farmers 80 yuan a head, said Dai.

Some local farmers say it is not worth their while to follow government regulations, as they have to cover the cost of sterilizing and burying the carcasses.

"The compensation takes months for farmers to collect," Di Huaqing, a pig farmer from Wenling, told the Global Times.