Eight people have been arrested, including the school principal, after tests revealed lead levels in the food that were 2,000 times above the national safety limit, BBC reported.
The children consumed steamed red date cake and corn sausage buns, both found to have dangerously high lead levels. Parents have raised concerns about the long-term health effects, while local authorities are investigating the incident, which has highlighted significant gaps in food safety supervision.
Investigators found that the red date cake and the corn sausage rolls had lead levels of 1052mg/kg and 1340mg/kg respectively which both exceed the national food safety standard limit of 0.5mg/kg.
The mayor of Tianshui, Liu Lijiang, said the incident exposed shortcomings and loopholes in public food safety supervision and the city would draw lessons from the event.
