Besides a splendid sports event, the Olympic Games is no doubt a tremendously huge "restaurant". Beijing will cater some 7.5 million person-time during the 2008 Olympics, including Olympic delegations, media and audience from around the world. Even for China with a long history of rich cuisine culture, this extravaganza reflects both opportunities and challenges.

An Olympics Menu

Opinions vary among people about what we eat and how we eat during the Beijing Olympics as China has developed extremely diversified food around the country over its thousands of years of civilization with 8 major local flavors plus numerous specials. Experts suggest an Olympic menu with typical Chinese food.

A counselor with the China Cuisine Association said many traditional famous Chinese dishes, for example, fish-flavored sliced pork and Kung-Pao chicken (saute diced chicken with chili and peanuts), had long been popular among foreign diners. He then suggested more local snacks be included in the "Olympic Menu".

Beijing worked out a special menu for the 11th Asian Games three years before the event was staged in the city and solicited for advice from participating countries. Technical training programs were conducted for some special foods that were purchased from abroad.

Uniformed distribution, a warranty of quality and safety can only be arranged after the specific menu is ready defining ingredients and speculations. Experts also stressed that Beijing's Olymics Menu be based on Chinese cuisine to introduce the traditional Chinese cuisine culture to more people in the world.

144 countries now are enjoying sushi introduced by Japan during the Tokyo Olympics. South Korea did the same for its pickles successfully. Sydney began preparation for Olympics food project 5 years before the event. And Greece spent 500 million USD of the 2 billion USD of security budget on food safety.

Restaurant Recommendation?

During the Olympics, most athletes have their meals in the Olympic village. But some will still choose to eat out occasionally. "We will not encourage them to do that (eat out). But we will not restrict that, either," said Xiang Ping, vice director with the division responsible for the service, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).

To ensure athletes enjoy good and safe food when they eat out, "recommended restaurants" will be available outside the "Olympic Zone" and marked in the athletes' brochure. Restaurants have to be double checked before recommended. According to Xiang, every restaurant in Beijing, including those not on the recommendation list, will be examined to make sure everyone in Beijing will have safe food during the Olympics.

Testing matches will be held following the completion of construction of Olympic venues by the end of 2007. These matches, with some world-class matches and massive participation, will be a good test for food safety. Xiang unveiled over the period from the end of 2007 to the first half of 2008 all the measures and systems concerning food safety would be tested and improved, ranging from the safe supply and tracing of food raw materials, real-time monitoring and risk control over food safety for Olympic venues and key areas and food anti-terrorism.

Safe food supply chain

As learned more than 70 percent of food on the Beijing market is from other areas outside Beijing or even foreign countries. The diversified supply channel poses great challenge to the city��s efforts on standardizing food supply.

Beijing Health Bureau and Agricultural Bureau, along with five other bureaus, promised in their report to Beijing Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee that a food safety strategy would be formulated. By 2008, the report says, only 3 modern big slaughterhouses up to the international standards will remain in service and standardized production will be realized in all the bases for farm products for food.

Besides that, a controlling system for scientific management will also be in place. The city plans to build a database for credibility of food and suppliers within 3 years and impose even more stringent food safety standards.

The objectives have been defined by the Olympic food safety system that by 2008 the practice of standardization will have been implemented on the procurement, packaging, storage and distribution of key food. Besides that, R&D will be conducted on antibacterial-free breeding, slaughtering, meat processing and detecting techniques.

A report by the law enforcement team of the Municipal People's Congress says nearly 95 percent of food proved to be safe in a sampling examination and there was no death case last year.

An expert team for food safety for Beijing Olympics 2008 was set up and held its first conference recently in Beijing. This marks that the food safety initiative for Beijing Olympics 2008 has been officially launched.

The team is composed of 15 members with 8 foreign experts who have been directly engaged in food safety mission for Bacelona, Sydney and Athens Olympics and Salt Lake Winter Olympics. Some of them are officials for food safety with the World Health Organization, US FDA officials and professor from US Auburn University.

The 8 foreign experts will work closely with their 7 Chinese colleagues as "a member of the Beijing Olympics Family".

By People's Daily Online