Major fruit markets in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, have banned the sale of waxberries from Fujian Province after local food safety authorities found pesticide residue on the seasonal fruit.

The Ningbo Vegetable and Fruit Market, which handles 90 percent of the city’s fruit wholesale business, hung up a large banner on its front gate Tuesday saying that “Sales of Fujian waxberries have been stopped in accordance with government instructions,” the Hangzhou-based Qianjiang Evening News reported Tuesday.

The Food and Drug Safety Supervision Bureau in Cixi, a city under the jurisdiction of Ningbo, found eight kinds of pesticide on waxberries from Longhai, Fujian Province last week, said the report.

Dichlorvos, trimetion and aisocarbophos are on top of the tested pesticide list, according to a notice of the Cixi Food and Drug Safety Supervision Bureau’s website.

“Aisocarbophos has a high level of toxicity, which we have found in two batches of Fujian waxberries,” said an official from the Cixi Food Safety Office, according to the newspaper.

“We have decided not to sell any waxberries from Fujian Province this year for the public’s safety, even if Fujian waxberries obtain safety certificates,” a manager at the Ningbo Vegetable and Fruit Market, surnamed Chen, told the Global Times Tuesday.

The waxberry market season will last another 15 days in Ningbo, and the market will only sell local waxberries to avoid the effects of Fujian waxberries, according to Chen.

“It’s still not clear how much economic losses we have suffered from the contaminated waxberries,” Chen said.

The waxberry wholesale business dropped 20 percent in the Ningbo Vegetable and Fruit Market and 70 percent in the Cixi Fruit Company since the pesticide residue scandal broke out, the Qianjiang Evening News report said.

Ningbo food safety authorities said that no pesticides have been found on local waxberries, the report said.