Beijing: In an embarrassment for the Chinese government, team-USA plans to bring its own food for the Beijing Olympics. After a string of food safety scares, China wants to assure athletes and coaches food at the Olympics will be safe.
In a special high-tech green house farm, the air and water quality is closely monitored and the fertilizer is mostly organic. What's grown here is for Beijing's Olympic village and the Chinese are desperate to reassure the world's elite athletes that the food they eat this August, won't make them sick. Manager lin yuan boasts that it took two years to meet the strict standards demanded by games organisers.
“We have followed all the rules and we're often inspected. That's why I am so confident about the quality,” says Beijing Tian An Agriculture, Lin Yuan.
China has almost 200 million farms, mostly small family plots and methods used there are crude. However, 36 companies were selected to supply fruit and vegetables for the Olympics and they all test for chemical residual, the produce is electronically tagged and tracked from packaging, to storage and then transportation.
Nonetheless, if there's a problem, 'It can be traced to the exact green house,” says Lin Yuan.
China is making sure that similar procedures are put in place for meat fish and diary suppliers as well.
However, China is likely to be wrong in thinking that they could satisfy the nervous athletes and coaches. The US Olympic Team for example plans to import a lot of its own food, and for the first time will have its own facilities for preparing meals.
“Personally, I express regret since we have done a lot of preparation” says Tang Yunhua of the BOCOG.
The Chinese have built some of the most impressive Olympic venues in the world. However, the next goal they say, is to ensure there's an Olympic menu to match.
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