More than 200 children have been hospitalized with lead poisoning after preschool cooking personnel used paint not destined for consumption to decorate food in northwest China.
The authorities say that eight people have been arrested after the tests that showed food samples from a kindergarten in the city of Tianshui, province of Gansu, had 2,000 times lead levels above the national security limit.
It was discovered that a total of 233 children from Peixin Kindergarten had high levels of lead in the blood after eating steamed red appointment cakes and sausage corn buns. The kitchen staff had bought the painting online in the direction of the director of the school, according to a police statement. After the children began to get sick, the officers had to look for paint supplies, which had been hidden.
“The painting was clearly marked as non -edible,” the statement said.
A father told the BBC that he was worried about how poisoning could affect his son's health over time.
“Mr. Liu took his son to the hospital in Xi'an to test last week after other parents gave the alarm. His son now needs 10 days of treatment and medications.”
The CCTV images of transmission of Chinese state media that, according to the reports, showed the kitchen staff added the pigment to food. Later, the researchers confirmed that red date cakes and corn sausage buns contained lead at 1052 mg/kg and 1340 mg/kg levels, well above the legal limit of 0.5 mg/kg.
The director of the private Chinese preschool, also called the kindergarten, along with seven others, including a main investor, is now being investigated under suspicion of producing foods that contain harmful substances.
It is still not clear how long the paint was used. However, several parents told Chinese media that their children had complained about symptoms such as stomach pain, leg discomfort and loss of appetite since March. The authorities initiated an investigation after these concerns were presented.
“The incident presented deficiencies and lagoons in the public food security supervision and the city would extract lessons from the event,” said Tianshui Mayor Liu Lijiang.
(BBC)
Read too Main stories OF Nigerian tribe