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China criticizes US Olympic athletes for bringing their own food
Chinese Olympic organisers yesterday criticised US athletes who are bringing their own food to the Games in Beijing this summer instead of trusting local cuisine.If you would have kept your mouths shut it would have worked out much better. But now that you have mentioned it . . . . Competitors are banned from importing their own food into the athletes' village under rules drawn up by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that are designed to protect the rights of sponsors such as McDonald's and to police the use of illegal substances. The United States Olympic Committee, which will have more than 600 people in its delegation, is planning to transport its own produce because of fears about public health and food standards in China. Or rather, their lack of enforcement. The athletes will eat their three daily meals at their training camp at a local university, which is outside the official confines of the Olympic Park. I feel it's a pity that they decided to take their own food, Kang Yi, the head of the food division for the Beijing Olympic organising committee, said. We have made lots of preparations to ensure that the athletes can get together at the Olympic Games. Now why would you need to make lots of special preparations? The athletes' village will house about 17,000 athletes and officials during the 16-day event in Beijing, serving up to 6,000 meals simultaneously in several restaurants round the clock. "Chang! We're running out of rat poison! Run down and get another barrel!" It is standard practice for delegations to eat the food prepared by the contract caterer, in this case Aramark, a Fortune 500 company based in Philadelphia. The British Olympic Association said that it would not be taking food for its 270 athletes. The party will include one nutritionist who will work with local chefs to prepare the team's meals. The nutritionist will specify how much of which pesticides will go into the athletes food in order to optimize their health and performance. Other countries are understood to be considering plans to cater their own food after a series of public health scares in China. Chinese-made dumplings contaminated by pesticides made thousands of Japanese ill last month. If the bugs won't eat them, they're probably not healthy. Tang Yunhua, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Municipal Office for Food Safety, said: The standards for Olympic food safety are much more strict than international standards. How about awareness and enforcement? Posted by: gorb 2008-02-22 |
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