China kindergarten operator gets life for serving toxic food to children

A decision to make kindergarten meals look brighter in early 2024 has now led to a life sentence. On October 16, 2026, Lanzhou Intermediate People’s Court convicted operator Li Huifang and five others of producing and selling toxic or harmful food at Heshi Peixin Kindergarten in Tianshui, China. The first-instance judgment establishes criminal responsibility in a poisoning case involving more than 200 children; it does not settle what care and compensation those children will need. ^{31 36}

The court found that Li and executive principal Zhu Jinglin instructed or arranged for kitchen workers to add toxic non-food ingredients to meals served to children and employees at the kindergarten in Maiji district, Gansu province. It described the circumstances as particularly serious. This was a finding of deliberate unlawful food production, not an unexplained accident in the kitchen. ³⁶

Li received life imprisonment, deprivation of political rights for life and confiscation of 500,000 yuan in personal property. Zhu received 15 years in prison and a 300,000-yuan fine. Four kitchen workers—Niu Aiyuan, Wen Yafang, He Xuxia and An Chunling—received terms ranging from six to eight years, together with fines. The court-attributed announcement reproduced by Xinhua does not assign an individual term or fine amount to each worker. ³⁶

The financial penalties need to be understood precisely: Li’s property confiscation is not a fine, and neither that confiscation nor Zhu’s fine is a documented compensation payment to families. The announcement also identifies the judgment as first instance; whether any defendant has appealed remains unestablished. ³⁶

The provincial investigation released in July 2025 traced the decision to the kindergarten’s effort to attract students. Zhu wanted more visually appealing food, Li agreed, and a cook was instructed to buy pigment. Photographs and videos of the meals were circulated for promotion. That recruitment motive comes from the earlier investigation, rather than a detailed account of promotional activity in the sentencing announcement. ³¹

He Xuxia bought yellow, red and green pigments online on April 23, 2024, and again on February 20, 2025. The packaging explicitly said they were not edible. Nevertheless, Niu and Wen mixed pigments into flour for corn sausage rolls and three-colour red-date steamed cakes. From May 2024 until the incident, those foods were served to children and staff an average of six times a month. That frequency does not establish how many servings any particular child ate. ¹³

The food tests made the contamination concrete. A retained breakfast sample of the cake contained 1,052 milligrams of lead per kilogram; a retained dinner sausage roll contained 1,340. The applicable national limit was no more than 0.5 milligrams per kilogram. These are concentrations in food—not blood-test values, and not measurements of an individual child’s dose. ^{27 26}

Investigators examined other possible sources. Among 93 sampled batches at the kindergarten were 19 retained-meal batches and 36 ingredient batches. Apart from the two named foods, the retained meals met national lead limits, as did all 36 ingredient batches. Two drinking-water batches met the cited standards. A survey of surrounding air, surface water, groundwater and soil identified no lead pollution within the places and samples examined. Those findings support the investigation’s focus on the added pigments without proving the absence of every conceivable exposure elsewhere. ^{26 23}

When police entered the kindergarten on July 1, 2025, He and An hid the remaining pigments, according to the provincial investigation. Police recovered them two days later. The investigation thus documented not just an unsafe ingredient, but its purchase, repeated use and attempted concealment. ¹³

The children’s medical figures require more care than a single headline total allows. By 22:00 on July 7, 2025, all 251 enrolled children had been tested. The announcement issued the following day recorded 233 abnormal blood-lead results and 18 normal results. That is a dated testing snapshot, not a final account of injuries. ²⁷

Xinhua’s July 20, 2025 investigation coverage and its October 17, 2026 sentencing report described 247 preschoolers as poisoned. Lianhe Zaobao’s sentencing account used 233 children with abnormal blood lead. The available reporting does not explain the 14-child difference or establish whether retesting, a different population or a change in classification accounts for it. An abnormal test result and a poisoning diagnosis are not interchangeable descriptions. ^{17 4 1}

The court announcement supplies no final medical breakdown. It does not establish that every affected child had the same severity, that any particular child has recovered, or that permanent developmental injury has been confirmed. Those limits matter because the case is about children’s health, not merely a count attached to a conviction. ³⁶

There were warning signs well before the public response. Investigators found that Tianshui Second People’s Hospital detected abnormal blood lead in seven kindergarten children between May 2024 and June 2025. Two children’s reports were altered downward: one result changed from 292.37 to 42.37 micrograms per litre, and another from 440.14 to 103. The other five children’s reports in that group were not altered. These measurements concern blood, separately from the food concentrations. ¹⁴

One child first tested abnormal in November 2024 and had five further abnormal results within six months. Yet the hospital did not systematically connect the seven cases or warn the kindergarten. Investigators identified poor management, weak laboratory quality control, inadequate training and direct alteration of results instead of required repeat testing. The failure was larger than two falsified reports: recurring abnormalities among children attending the same kindergarten did not trigger a warning. ¹⁴

The provincial disease-control agency’s blood-lead data were also found seriously distorted, with serious procedural violations. July 2025 reporting distinguished 17 people placed under disciplinary investigation from another ten officials facing accountability proceedings over oversight failures. Those proceedings are not 27 convictions, and their detailed outcomes are not established by the judgment against the six kindergarten defendants. ^{21 35 32}

Tianshui approved a treatment-and-support plan on July 20, 2025, long before sentencing. Its coverage population included 251 enrolled children, 48 children who graduated in 2024 and 29 staff, tied to attendance between April 23, 2024, and June 30, 2025. Coverage concerned incident-related abnormal blood lead and subsequent treatment, rehabilitation and education. These eligibility groups must not be added together and presented as a confirmed poisoning tally. ^{15 33}

The plan promised timely treatment and rehabilitation, priority medical resources, care guided by national experts and psychological consultation. It also prescribed financial and educational support, legal services, a rights-protection service centre and designated officials to coordinate assistance and maintain contact with families. Maiji district was assigned primary implementation responsibility. The kindergarten was placed under temporary management by Tianshui Experimental Kindergarten. ^{52 53 55}

Those commitments are substantial, but they are not proof of delivery. The available provisions do not establish a verified schedule of free services, a fixed follow-up duration, who pays every expense, compensation amounts or completed payments. Nor does the reporting establish the children’s long-term medical outcomes. ^{52 55 36}

The sentences answer who was criminally responsible for serving the toxic food. The remaining test is whether the children receive reliable medical follow-up and the support promised to them—and whether the separate failures of testing and oversight produce accountability of their own. A life sentence closes neither question.