Beijing Thursday reaffirmed the safety of food at the Olympic Games
after media reports that the US contingent plans to prepare its own
meals at the Games due to safety concerns.

"We've made great efforts to ensure safe supplies for the Games and we
hope athletes dine together," Kang Yi, chief of the food division of
the Games services department, told a press conference.

"If the US delegation is not at these gatherings, I would personally
regret it," she said.

Some foreign media including The New York Times reported earlier this
month that the US Olympic Committee had arranged with sponsors to ship
about 11,000 kg of lean protein to Beijing for the Games in response
to concerns about the potential impact of veterinary drugs and
insecticides on athletes.

But Kang said her division had received no formal notification from
the US regarding the plan.

She also made it clear that according to established international
practice, foreign athletes cannot take their own food into the Olympic
Village.

Tang Yunhua, spokeswoman for the Beijing municipal office for food
safety, also said such worries were unwarranted.

She said the city had spent nearly three years developing an extensive
monitoring and supervision system over the entire supply chain from
breeders to slaughterhouses and distribution trucks.

"We're very confident and capable of offering safe food for the
Games," she said, adding that quality controls adopted by the city
before the Olympics now exceed international standards.

In response to fears that antibiotics and growth stimulants used by
some breeders to boost yields could lead to positive doping tests,
officials said there was no evidence to prove it.

"Globally, there have been no scientific reports that show drug tests
yield positive results after athletes or people eat certain types of
meat," Lu Yong, director of the Beijing municipal food safety
monitoring center, told the press conference.

"China has very strict rules. Forbidden drugs cannot be used in
breeding, so we can guarantee safety," he said.

By Zhu Zhe (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-02-22 06:51

MeiGuoXing wrote:


This being your third attempt to start the same stupid thread, this is
an easy plonk.




Brian

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