More than 200 children were hospitalized this month after they were fed food tainted with lead in a kindergarten in northwest China, a food safety scandal that has set off a public uproar and raised questions about local officials’ ability to protect the health of children.

       The police in Tianshui, a city in Gansu Province, have detained eight officials and employees of the privately owned kindergarten, including the principal and an investor. They found that school cooks used inedible pigments bought online to decorate buns and cakes that were served to the children, Chinese state media reported on Tuesday.

       The head of the Tianshui police, Guo Qingxiang, said that an investigation showed that the school sought to use photos of the colorful food for marketing purposes, to try to increase enrollment, according to the state broadcaster CCTV. The food included sausage buns made to look like bright yellow corn on the cob and red date cakes with layers of teal and pink.

       Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.