Mengniu Dairy Co, the largest dairy company in the country by market value, issued a letter on Friday, clarifying the smear scandal.

The incident plotted by An Yong, Mengniu's division manager, was an individual act and was not endorsed by the company, the letter said.

Mengniu admitted responsibility for poor education and management of An, which lead to his act and apologized for any impact to related parties and consumers, said the letter.

The letter also stressed that Yang Zaifei, general manager of BossePR, who was detained for plotting a public relations campaign together with An to create the milk powder scandal, was not on staff at Mengniu.