OMM Newsroom
A Chinese court on Friday sentenced six people to prison for serving toxic and harmful food after 247 preschool children at a kindergarten in the country’s northwest were found to have abnormally high blood lead levels in 2025, according to Anadolu Agency.
The Intermediate People’s Court of Lanzhou City in Gansu sentenced Li Huifang, the person in charge of the kindergarten, to life imprisonment, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
Li and Zhu Jinglin, executive principal of Heshi Peixin Kindergarten in Maiji District, instructed and organized the addition of toxic substances to food served to children and staff to make it more colourful and attractive for marketing, the report said.
Li was also deprived of political rights for life, and personal property worth 500,000 yuan ($74,000) was confiscated.
Zhu was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined 300,000 yuan. Four kitchen workers who carried out the instructions received prison sentences of six to eight years and were also fined.
A provincial investigation report in July 2025 said contaminated pastries had been served to children and staff every month since May 2024.
Of 251 children tested, 247 had abnormally high blood lead levels. All affected children received hospital treatment or home-based nutritional intervention. By July 20, 2025, most had completed their first course of treatment and been discharged from hospital.
