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)