Over 200 children are being treated in hospitals in northwestern China for lead poisoning after school chefs decorated their food with inedible paint.
Eight persons were arrested after testing revealed that food samples from a kindergarten in Tianshui City, Gansu province, contained lead levels that were 2,000 times higher than the national safety limit.
Following the consumption of steamed red date cake and sausage corn bun, 233 youngsters from Peixin Kindergarten exhibited elevated lead levels in their blood.
According to a police statement, the school principal requested that the culinary staff purchase the paint online.
However, as the children were unwell, cops had to seek for the goods that had been hidden.
According to the statement, the paint was clearly marked as not edible.
One parent told the BBC that he was concerned about the long-term effects of lead poisoning on his son’s liver and digestive system.
Mr Liu took his child to the hospital in Xi’an for testing last week after other parents raised concerns. His son now requires ten days of care and medications.
Chinese state media broadcast footage from CCTV cameras in the kitchen that showed employees applying paint pigment to the food.
Investigators discovered that the red date cake and corn sausage rolls contained lead levels of 1052mg/kg and 1340mg/kg, respectively, which exceeded the national food safety standard limit of 0.5mg/kg.
The principle of the privately owned kindergarten, along with seven others, including its main investor, will now be probed for creating hazardous and unsafe food.
It is unclear how long the paint has been present in the meal, but numerous parents have told Chinese state media that their children have been complaining of stomach and leg pain, as well as a lack of appetite, since March.
They reported their concerns to local authorities, and an investigation was initiated.
The mayor of Tianshui, Liu Lijiang, stated that the incident showed flaws and gaps in public food safety supervision and that the city would learn from the experience.
