The local food safety watchdog said yesterday that all the
strawberries found containing excessive pesticide had been
destroyed in Shenzhen over the weekend.
Officials with the local food safety watchdog said the
strawberries could have caused diarrhea or food poisoning after
being consumed.
The city's produce quality supervision center examined 73
samples of strawberries taken from 14 strawberry orchards and two
wholesale markets earlier this month.
"At least half of the 73 samples contained overdosed toxic
pesticides, including methamidophos and omethoate," said a
spokesman surnamed Chen from the center.
Only three out of the 14 inspected orchards passed the pesticide
examination.
Also, only 43 percent of the 44 samples taken from the wholesale
markets met the food safety standard.
The unsafe strawberries sold in the two wholesale markets were
mainly from Huizhou and Chenghai in Guangdong Province.
Experts from the city's agriculture, forestry and fishery bureau
advised people against buying strawberries directly from orchards,
and asked them to wash the fruits carefully before consuming.
(Shenzhen Daily December 18, 2006)