Up to 20 among a total of 849 vegetable and fruit samples being tested were found "tainted" by pesticide residues in Macao in the first quarter, local media reported Friday.

The Macao Post Daily quoted sources from the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, which is in charge of the testing, as saying that one of "the unsatisfactory samples" was verified to contain methamidophos, an internationally banned farming pesticide.

The other 19 were dubbed carrying "permitted residual levels of agricultural pesticide," the sources told the newspaper.

Macao has "a well-established system" to detect agricultural pesticide residues in vegetables and fruits, said the newspaper report.

The daily average of 100 metric tons of vegetables and fruits imported from the Chinese mainland are all originated from " officially registered farms," said the sources.

Macao relies its vegetable and fruit imports mainly on the Chinese mainland.

Source: Xinhua