More than 200 kindergarten students in northwestern China were found to have abnormal blood lead levels after kitchen staff used paint as food coloring, authorities said, in a case that’s stoked outrage in a country long plagued by food safety scandals.

Chinese authorities have arrested eight people after more than 200 children who fell ill in the northwestern province of Gansu were found to have abnormally high levels of lead in their blood, the country's state broadcaster reported on Tuesday.