2mo ago

Chef's food 'decoration' at Chinese pre-school poisons 233 children

www.bbc.com

Chef's food decoration at Chinese pre-school poisons 233 children

More than 200 children are being treated in hospital with lead poisoning in north-west China after school chefs used inedible paint to decorate their food.

Eight people have been arrested after tests showed the food samples from a kindergarten in Tianshui City in Gansu province had lead levels that were 2,000 times over the national safety limit.

In total, 233 children from Peixin Kindergarten had high levels of lead in their blood after eating steamed red date cake and sausage corn bun.

World News @quokk.au

cuban_Pete @lemy.lol

2mo ago

More than 200 children are being treated in hospital with lead poisoning in north-west China after school chefs used inedible paint to decorate their food.

www.bbc.com /news/articles/cy4n7wn8l58o

27 comments

The school principal asked the kitchen staff to buy the paint online
officers had to search for the supplies which had been hidden.
The paint was clearly marked as inedible
I'm amazed if a single person employed at this school is not going to prison.
- Sometimes China executes people for stuff like this.
  
  If there were a crime which deserved the death penalty (there isn’t), intentionally poisoning more than 200 children would be it. It’s technically possible that they’re really negligent and stupid, but hiding the paint was definitely intentional and probably caused additional harm by delaying treatment.
  
  Yep.
  2008 Chinese milk scandal
  2 executed and 1 life in prison
  
  Sometimes, or sometimes they get a pass based on connections. Those aren't mutually exclusive, either; scapegoats have long been a useful political tool.
You know, I was kind of expecting like some sort of poisonous vegetable or fruit that was put on as a garnish. I was not expecting lead fucking paint.
- I mean you might still be right. The lead paint was probably being used to hide the subpar or rotting vegetable/fruits they were trying to serve them, your first instinct isn't to just paint vegetables unless there's something else your trying to hide.
  
  Legitimately wtf
- Yes, that's exactly what I expected, too. What actually happened is truly baffling on multiple levels. Why???
It is not known how long the paint has been used in the food, but several parents told Chinese state media that their children have been complaining of stomach and leg pain and a lack of appetite since March.
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4756504/
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis
China loves lead, gotta watch for it in Chinese toys too. I'm not anti-China but I am anti-harming people.
Chef obviously never watched Chopped! If you put a non-edible element on your plate you are just asking to get sent home.
Slightly less related, but what modern day paint has lead in it?
- You'd be surpised by how many countries do not have a lead paint ban. Though China is one of them that does.
  
  It's also a country where manufacturers do whatever the fuck they want until they get caught. Then they bribe the local officials.
- Road signs, like Stop signs, Yield signs. They all use lead as a primary ingredient, I think Chromium is the other metal they use. It's durable and the Matte-Metallic finish makes the sign easy to read in all lightings. You can still get lead as an additive to oil-based paints, but it's heavily restricted. You'd have to have a specific use case to import it, it's called flake white. Metal additives change the texture and reflective properties of the paint, lead is mostly swapped out for zinc and titanium now though.
  
  My first thought: wow, the PPE for the people making road signs must be so involved!
  My second thought: unfortunately, probably not at all.
- One that costs 5 cents less than the others
- White house paint still had lead in it in Australia, just at much lower levels than before the ban
Holy fucking fuck what
Yeah, if you're looking at food in China, there's a real argument to avoid anything artificial-seeming because of incidents like this. I'm told it's part of the reason why wet markets are so popular - there's no doubt if your meat is real and unadulterated when you just saw it running around.
Sugar of Lead, chef's kiss and sorry children

27 comments