China kindergarten operator jailed for life over lead poisoning
A kindergarten operator in China's Gansu province has been sentenced to life in prison after food laced with inedible paint poisoned 235 children.
The Lanzhou Intermediate People's Court found Li Huifang, who ran the Heshi Peixin Kindergarten in Tianshui city, guilty of producing and selling toxic and harmful food. The court ordered the confiscation of 500,000 yuan of her personal assets. BBC
Executive principal Zhi Jinglin received 15 years in prison and a 300,000 yuan fine. Four kitchen staff were given prison terms of between six and eight years. The court found that Li and Zhi had instructed the staff to add toxic and harmful ingredients to meals served to children and staff.
Investigators said chefs had used inedible paint to make the food look more attractive in an effort to draw more pupils. In July 2025, 247 pupils and staff were found to have abnormally high levels of lead in their blood. The 235 children were treated for lead poisoning after eating steamed red date cakes and sausage corn buns served by the kindergarten.
Tests on those foods found lead above China's safety limit of 0.5mg/kg for food. Investigators measured 1,052mg/kg in the red date cake and 1,340mg/kg in the corn sausage rolls. BBC Food samples from the nursery contained lead at 2,000 times the national safety limit.
The case involved allegations of a cover-up. Dozens of provincial officials and hospital staff tampered with blood tests and accepted bribes from a nursery investor in an attempt to conceal the poisoning.
China has published national guidelines for school meals, requiring testing of every new batch of food and centralised purchasing of staples such as flour, rice and cooking oil.
