Six sent to prison for kids' food poisoning

A kindergarten operator in Northwest China's Gansu province was sentenced to life in prison on Friday for producing and selling toxic and harmful food, while five others received prison terms ranging from six to 15 years, according to a local court.

The Lanzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Li Huifang, the de facto operator of Heshi Peixin Kindergarten in Tianshui city's Maiji district, to life imprisonment, deprived her of political rights for life and ordered the confiscation of 500,000 yuan ($74,780) of her personal assets.

Zhu Jinglin, the kindergarten's executive principal, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined 300,000 yuan. Four kitchen staff members — Niu Aiyuan, Wen Yafang, He Xuxia and An Chunling — received prison terms ranging from six to eight years, along with fines.

The court found that Li and Zhu had instructed and arranged for kitchen staff to add toxic and harmful nonfood substances to meals served to children and staff at the kindergarten, causing serious harm.

The court ruled that all six defendants had violated national food safety regulations and were guilty of producing and selling toxic and harmful food under particularly serious circumstances.

The sentences were handed down in a public first-instance ruling on Friday afternoon, according to Xinhua.

According to a Xinhua News Agency report on July 20, 2025, 247 of the privately run kindergarten's 251 children and 28 of its 34 staff members were found to have abnormal blood lead levels.

All 247 affected children had received either hospital treatment or nutritional support at home. Of the 235 hospitalized children, 234 had completed their first course of treatment and been discharged, while one remained hospitalized, the report said, adding that experts found blood lead levels had fallen by an average of 40.21 percent following treatment, meeting expectations.