Three of the former heads of the baby formula producer Remedia will be tried for allegedly causing the death of infants who were fed a non-dairy milk substitute sold by the company in 2003, prosecutors said on Sunday.

After three years of investigations, the prosecution has decided to indict eight people involved in the affair - three of the former heads of the company and five Health Ministry officials.

The former Remedia executives who will be tried are former Remedia CEO Gideon Landsberger, former directing manager Moshe Miller and Frederick Block, head of research and development for the firm.

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The three will be charged with causing death through negligence, as well as negligent sabotage, misleading the public, obstruction of justice, spreading disease, fraud and conspiracy.

A draft of the indictment charges that the essential B1 vitamin was not included in the mixture of vitamins added to the formula. But the Remedia company did not inform the public of the error, and printed labels that stated that the formula included more vitamins than it actually did.

According to the charges, several babies who were fed the formula were hospitalized with severe damage to their nervous system.

After being given B1 supplements, some of the infants showed improvement, but others sustained irreparable damage to their systems and two of the children did not survive. Another baby also died after the incident, but this child's death was not included in the charge sheet.

Seventeen families have sued the German company Humana that manufactures the formula for compensation after the affair. Remedia executives have said in response to the proposed charge sheet that the prosecution is ignoring Humana's responsibility for the affair, as well as that of the Health Ministry.

Five Health Ministry officials will also be charged as part of the indictment for actions that could result in spreading disease, the punishment for which could come to three years in prison. Among those charged is the head of ministry's national food service.

According to the charge sheet, the ministry officials did not verify that the formula sent from Germany contained the ingredients listed on the labels.