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US' self-catering plan for Olympics disappoints Beijing

The US Olympic Committee has disappointed the head of food services at the Beijing Olympics with a plan to bring its own food to the Games.

Wary of food quality in China following recent incidents of tainted products and reports of the heavy use of drugs and insecticides in food production, the US delegation is planning to transport tonnes of meats and other foods to a training camp at Beijing Normal University.

"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 organizing committee, said yesterday. She said the US had not officially notified her department of the plan.

The US delegation will number more than 600, and many will eat their daily meals at the training camp, rather than the Athletes Village. The Village will house about 17,000 athletes and officials during the Games from Aug. 8 to Aug. 24 and will be capable of serving 6,000 meals simultaneously.

The New York Times reported earlier that the US will ship more than 11 tonnes of lean meat to China.

"We have made lots of preparations to ensure that [the athletes] can get together at the Olympic Games," Kang said at a news conference on food safety yesterday. "If the American delegation is not at that gathering, it's a pity."

The safety of food in China has become a major issue for the Olympics, where athletes will face extensive drug testing. Security officials are aware that a positive drug test triggered by contaminated food could ruin an athlete's career and generate a public-relations disaster for China, which is intent on showing itself as a modern, sophisticated country.

Other countries are also reported to be considering plans to cater their own food.

Lu Yong, director of the Beijing Municipal Food Safety Monitoring Center, said there was no evidence that drugs and growth stimulants used in meat production could trigger positive doping tests.
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