Chinese nursery owner is jailed for life after 247 children were poisoned with food laced with lead PAINT

Li Huifang, owner of Heshi Peixin Kindergarten in Tianshui, Gansu province, directed kitchen employees to source paint online and stir it into food, believing it would make meals more visually attractive and draw in more pupils. The paint's packaging carried clear warnings that it was not fit for consumption. Lead levels in food samples were found to be 2,000 times above China's safety threshold. Executive principal Zhu Jinglin received a 15-year sentence and a fine of 300,000 yuan.

Four kitchen workers who carried out the instructions were sentenced to between six and eight years in prison.

Red date cakes tested at 1,052mg/kg of lead, against a 0.5mg/kg limit.

Tainted pastries were served to children every month from May 2024.