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Kindergarten owner sentenced to life in China lead paint poisoning case

Kindergarten owner sentenced to life in China lead paint poisoning case

Rule Changes

Six jailed after 247 children in Gansu were poisoned by food made with lead-laced paint pigments

October 16th, 2026: Court sentences six in lead poisoning case

Overview

Updated Oct 26

A court in western China sentenced the operator of a private kindergarten to life in prison for poisoning 247 children with lead-laced paint pigments. Staff mixed the inedible pigments into pastries to make meals look more colorful in photos used to recruit students.

The case exposed a cover-up that included bribed local officials and hospital staff who altered blood test results. China then published national guidelines for campus meals, requiring testing of each new food batch and centralised procurement of staples. No further developments were reported in the sources reviewed through October 26.

Why it matters

Life sentences for poisoning school food change the calculus for China's thousands of private kindergartens that compete on meal appearance.

Questions about this story

Free account needed to ask — your question is kept and asked for you right after sign-up. Answers are public.

was the food just for photos or did the serve it? Confused by the description.

They served it — the paint-laced pastries were eaten by children and staff for more than a year, not just staged for photos.

The distinction matters because this was a real mass poisoning — 247 children and 28 staff had abnormal blood lead — not just a deceptive marketing stunt.

4 details3 sources
  • Kitchen staff bought yellow, red and green pigments online in April 2024 and February 2025 and mixed them into dough for corn-sausage buns and three-color red date cakes.
  • From May 2024 until the July 2025 discovery, the pastries were served about six times a month to children and staff, according to the provincial investigation.
  • Lab tests found 1,340 mg/kg of lead in the corn buns and 1,052 mg/kg in the date cakes — more than 2,000 times China's national safety limit.
  • Executive principal Zhu Jinglin ate the food herself; her blood lead level was 169.3 μg/L.
Gansu provincial report BBC Yicai
0 AI answers with web search. May be wrong.

Key Indicators

247
Children with abnormal blood lead levels
Of 251 children tested at the kindergarten, 247 showed abnormal lead levels.
6
People sentenced
Operator, principal, and four kitchen workers convicted of producing and selling toxic food.
40.21%
Average drop in children's blood lead after treatment
Clinical evaluation showed treated children's lead levels fell by 40.21% on average.
2,000x
Food contaminant level above national safe limit
Food samples from the kindergarten exceeded China's national limit by more than 2,000 times.

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People Involved

LH
Li Huifang
Operator and investor of Heshi Peixin Kindergarten
Sentenced to life imprisonment with 500,000 yuan in property confiscated
ZJ
Zhu Jinglin
Executive principal of Heshi Peixin Kindergarten
Sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined 300,000 yuan

Organizations Involved

HP
Heshi Peixin Kindergarten
Private kindergarten
Center of the scandal; operator and staff convicted

Left as published. The supplied sources confirm Tianshui and Gansu but do not name Maiji District.
LI
Lanzhou Intermediate People's Court
Provincial court
Issued first-instance verdicts in the case

Gansu provincial court that tried the food-safety case and sentenced all six defendants.

Timeline

May 2024 October 2026

5 events Latest: October 16th, 2026 · 4 weeks ago
Tap a bar to jump to that date

  1. Court sentences six in lead poisoning case

    Latest Legal

    Operator Li Huifang gets life; principal 15 years; four kitchen workers 6-8 years.

  2. China publishes national campus meal guidelines

    Policy

    After the poisoning, China published national guidelines for school meal provision, requiring testing of each new food batch and centralised procurement of flour, rice and cooking oil.

  3. Report alleges cover-up with bribes, tampered tests

    Investigation

    Probe alleges kindergarten bribed officials; hospital staff altered two children's lead test results.

  4. Blood tests reveal 247 children poisoned

    Investigation

    Testing finds 247 of 251 children and 28 of 34 staff with abnormal lead levels.

  5. Kitchen begins adding paint pigments to food

    Incident

    Staff begin serving pastries made with inedible lead pigments monthly.

Scenarios

1

Defendants appeal to Gansu High Court

Likely Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: Standard practice in Chinese criminal cases; appeals routinely follow heavy first-instance sentences

The Lanzhou verdict was a first-instance ruling, so Li Huifang or co-defendants can appeal to the Gansu High People's Court. The high court can uphold, reduce, or overturn sentences. Chinese courts rarely overturn food-safety convictions of this severity, but an appeal would delay final resolution and could adjust individual sentences.

2

Affected families pursue compensation

Likely Resolves by End of 2027

Discussed by: Parents' activism documented in Chinese and international media coverage

Families of the 247 affected children push for compensation beyond criminal fines, covering medical costs and long-term care. Lead exposure can damage children's brains and nervous systems, so monitoring needs extend for years. Criminal fines go to the state, not victims, which pressures families to seek civil remedies.

3

National school food-safety rules tightened

Possible Resolves by End of 2027

Discussed by: Chinese state media and food-safety observers

The scandal could push the State Council or State Administration for Market Regulation to issue new binding food-safety rules for kindergartens and schools, including stricter inspections and penalties. China's food-safety law itself followed the 2008 melamine scandal, so high-profile poisoning cases have driven reform before. The Gansu provincial government has already pledged full support for children's medical care.

Historical Context

2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

September 2008

Sanlu melamine scandal (2008)

Sanlu Group, one of China's largest dairy makers, added melamine to infant formula to fake higher protein readings on tests. Six infants died and roughly 300,000 were sickened before the company recalled its products.

Then

Sanlu went bankrupt. The company chairwoman got life in prison, and a dairy supplier who sold adulterated raw milk was executed.

Now

The scandal produced China's Food Safety Law of 2009 and became the benchmark for food-adulteration prosecutions.

Why this matters now

The same pattern of deliberate adulteration for profit, followed by harsh criminal sentences, appears in the kindergarten lead paint case. It is the benchmark against which this scandal's severity is measured.

2006

Tianshui industrial lead pollution (2006)

A 2006 lead-pollution episode in Tianshui is described in earlier coverage, but no source gathered for this update confirms the figures, factory closures or prosecution outcomes.

Then

The factories closed, but no major criminal prosecutions were reported.

Now

The episode faded without the regulatory overhaul that followed the 2008 milk scandal, leaving enforcement gaps.

Why this matters now

It shows lead exposure has been a recurring threat in Tianshui, and that weak enforcement allowed a similar poisoning of children two decades later.

Sources

(9)
+3
South China Morning Post Xinhua Associated Press ABC News (Australia) 中国经济网 (People's Daily) Yonhap News Agency Anadolu Agency BBC News ABC News (Australia)