TEN lawmakers in Shenzhen raised questions to officials in charge of food safety from several government agencies Tuesday, after 11 percent of 473 types of farm produce samples that they randomly purchased from markets were found to contain excessive pesticide residues.

    The report by Ceda Farm Produce Test Center — concerning the vegetable samples bought from 39 wet markets and supermarkets from across the city earlier this month — was worrisome and in sharp contrast to official data about food safety, according to Huang Xiang, one of the lawmakers. Ceda Farm Produce Test Center conducts tests on farm produce supplied to Hong Kong.

    Of the nine samples from Bibo Wet Market in Luohu District and Big Big Boon supermarkets, seven were unqualified to be sold, according to the report.

    “We were told in the past that 96 percent of farm produce is safe by our food safety watchdog,” Huang said. “We now wonder why.”

    Wang Duojia, vice chief of the city’s farm produce test center, noted that test results are shaped by many factors, such as season, location and plant or animal variety, as well as the testing methods themselves. He pledged to communicate with the lawmakers in detail to find out why the discrepancy between the test results and the prior data about farm produce exists.

    Lawmaker Xiao Youmei urged the government to step up efforts to trace sources of unsafe food and ban producers before they are able to send more unsafe food to Shenzhen markets.

    Tougher regulations on pesticide residues from farm produce took effect nationwide in July.

    The new regulations include 3,650 indices detailing the maximum allowable residues for 387 pesticides on 284 types of food. For the first time, the regulations cover juice and preserved fruits.

    Pesticide residues have been a prominent food safety issue in China.

    (Mu Zi)