The authorities are doing their utmost to ensure food safety
during the Beijing Olympics, a senior quality supervision official
said yesterday.
All supplies to athletes, trainers and coaches will be
scrutinized in a tracking system from the farm to the dining table,
said Wei Chuanzhong, deputy head of the General Administration of
Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China
(AQSIQ).
Wei made the remarks to 150 journalists from more than 60
domestic and foreign media organizations yesterday in Beijing.
The journalists, including 114 from overseas, visited AQSIQ
headquarters and two local food producers which are potential
suppliers for the Games.
The tracking system, launched in August, monitors food
production, processing and delivery as well as hygiene
conditions.
Each food product carries a barcode containing information of
producer, distributor and retailer.
So far, 28,420 food producers have joined the system, with 454
million pieces of products carrying the barcode sold in the
market.
In Beijing, most major food manufacturing companies have been
put under the system.
At yesterday's briefing, Wei also revealed that the AQSIQ and
Customs authorities had conducted anti-biochemical terrorism drills
to ensure quality of food imports.
"The drills aim to improve our capacity to deal with nuclear and
radiation-related chemical terrorism," said Wei.
(China Daily November 13, 2007)