China detains principal over lead poisoning of 200 children

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BEIJING - A kindergarten principal was detained after more than 200 children in north-western China fell ill with potential lead poisoning from date cakes and corn rolls, state media said on July 8.

Investigators found “abnormal” levels of lead in the blood of 233 children at Peixin Kindergarten in Tianshui city, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Of those, 201 of the children are being treated in hospital.

Food safety scandals were once common in China, where tainted milk formula made hundreds of thousands of babies ill in 2008 and was linked to six deaths.

City authorities investigated the head of the kindergarten last week after receiving reports that children were falling ill.

A parent told state-run Jimu News tabloid last week that children had been experiencing stomach pain and nausea, and that some of their teeth turned black.

Testing revealed that samples of three-colour steamed date cakes and corn rolls contained more than 2,000 times the national safety standard for food contaminants.

The cake, served at breakfast, returned a reading of 1,052 milligrams per kg and the roll, served at another meal, was found with 1,340 milligrams per kg.

The nationwide limit for lead in wheat and starch is 0.5 milligrams per kg, according to Chinese government records.

CCTV said security footage shows kitchen staff adding packaged yellow colouring to a flour mix used in both contaminated dishes.

The kindergarten’s principal, surnamed Zhu, and an investor surnamed Li have been detained along with six other people, CCTV said.

Investigators found that both of them allowed kitchen staff to produce food using paint pigments purchased online that were later found to contain lead and were marked inedible.

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