Certificates of origin will be required for vegetables, fruits and edible fungi entering Chengdu, capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, from Thursday, an official said.

"The regulation is to ensure food safety in Chengdu," said Zhou Rong, director of Chengdu's Food and Drug Administration.

According to the new regulation, quality check reports are also required for the sale of these products.

The city will also ban the sale of produce from a region for at least half a year if produce from the region fails quality inspection tests three consecutive times in any one year.

Zhou said a special area will be established at the city's wholesale markets for local farmers to sell homegrown fruit and vegetables.

Wholesale market owners will be responsible for registering and checking all vegetables, fruits and fungi offered for sale by local farmers.