Nursery owner sentenced to life after lead‑tainted meals sickened over 200 children

What Happened

In July 2025 health officials found 247 pupils and staff at Heshi Peixin Kindergarten in Tianshui, Gansu, with abnormally high blood lead levels after children fell ill. A total of 235 children required treatment for lead poisoning after eating the contaminated cakes and buns. An investigation revealed chefs had mixed inedible paint and other toxic substances to make meals look more attractive. Lead‑tainted steamed red date cakes and sausage corn buns contained 1,052 mg/kg and 1,340 mg/kg of lead, far above the national safety limit of 0.5 mg/kg, about 2,000 times higher. The World Health Organization warns that lead exposure can severely damage the brain and central nervous system of young children. Dozens of provincial officials and hospital staff tried to hide the outbreak by tampering with blood tests and accepting bribes from a nursery investor.

Legal Action

The Lanzhou Intermediate People’s Court sentenced nursery owner Li Huifang to life imprisonment for producing and selling toxic food and ordered the seizure of 500,000 yuan of her assets. Executive principal Zhi Jinglin received a 15‑year term and a 300,000‑yuan fine. Four kitchen workers were jailed for six to eight years each after the court found they had been instructed by Li and Zhi to add the harmful ingredients.

Context

The case prompted China to issue new campus‑meal guidelines requiring batch testing and centralized purchase of staples such as flour, rice and cooking oil, aiming to prevent similar poisonings.