No harmful pesticides in Beijing strawberry: Investigation

BEIJING - The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Agriculture has said strawberries are safe to eat, after a citywide investigation over allegations that the fruit was tainted with pesticides.

The special investigation was launched on Monday following a report by state broadcaster CCTV, which reported that it had found acetochlor residue, a harmful herbicide, in all eight strawberry samples it had tested.

The regulators collected 42 samples from production bases on the city's outskirts and another 133 from wholesale markets, supermarkets, fruit shops and street stands in Beijing proper. The strawberries were grown in northern Hebei Province, northeastern Liaoning Province and the eastern provinces of Shandong and Zhejiang

All 175 samples were found to not be contaminated by the herbicide and were deemed were safe to eat, a committee spokesperson said.

Over 200,000 kg of strawberries are sold in Beijing every day during spring. From April 27 to 29, nearly 340,000 kg were sold across the city.