Li Huifang, the owner of a nursery school in Gansu province, was found to have poisoned more than 200 children with lead. A nursery owner in China has been sentenced to life in prison after it was discovered that she had been adding toxic paint to children’s food to enhance its look.
Their lab reports revealed they had abnormally high blood lead levels. In July 2025, children at the Heshi Peixin Kindergarten in Tianshui began falling ill after eating food at the school. All in all, around 247 members of staff and students took ill.
In addition, the Lanzhou Intermediate People’s Court also directed the confiscation of 500,000 yuan worth of Li’s personal assets. The court also found that Li and Zhi had ordered four staffers to add toxic paint to the food. Those four staffers received between six to eight years in prison.
An investigation revealed that cooks at the nursery had used inedible paint to “enhance the look” of the meals and make them more appealing to children. (Also read: More than 200 children suffer lead poisoning from food at a Chinese kindergarten ) The investigation also found that an investor in the nursery attempted to cover up the crime by bribing dozens of hospital staff and provincial officials to tamper with the blood test results of the patients.
