Beijing Olympics organizers yesterday unveiled meticulous plans to assure
athletes of healthy food and sound air quality during the Games.
The
pledges came two days before the city marks the one-year countdown to the
opening of the 2008 Summer Games.
"Our country and the Beijing municipal
government are taking the food safety issue very seriously, especially for the
Olympics," Wang Wei, an executive vice president of the Beijing organizing
committee, told a press conference.
"Actually, Beijing has hosted a lot
of big events and there have been no problems regarding food safety in these
events."
Food to be delivered to athletes will be closely monitored
throughout the process of production, processing and transport.
State-of-the-art
technologies such as a global positioning satellite system will be used to help
track food during the production and distribution process, according to
organizing committee action guidelines.
Other measures include:
Staying vigilant on food safety and enhancing information collection;
Improving market entry system for food suppliers;
Strengthening
food safety monitoring and supervising systems;
All food entering the
Olympic Village will carry a logistics code so to enable tracking.
Wang
said measures will also be taken to ensure food safety for the general public,
who will be informed of how to buy safe food.
The General Administration of
Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine yesterday announced similar
measures to make sure food products for the Games were safe to consume.
Also
at the press conference, the organizing committee spelled out contingency plans
for improving air quality during the Games.
"Air quality is not only a
matter for Beijing's image, but also a matter concerning the health of athletes
and the general public," Wang said.
"In order to secure clean air during
the Games, we will unveil some contingency plans and some of them will be
rehearsed during the upcoming test events."
In order to test the venues
and organizing systems, Beijing will trial more than 40 test events before the
opening of the Games. Some media reported last month that Beijing would haul
vehicles off the city's roads for two weeks in August to rehearse traffic
control measures for the Beijing Olympics.
However, Wang said the
specific plan is still under discussion and will be released at an appropriate
time.
Last November, Beijing imposed a six-day ban on at least 490,000
government vehicles and advised private drivers to take buses to make way for a
summit meeting of Chinese and African leaders.
Traffic was surprisingly
smooth even in the busiest areas during the week and the air quality evaluated
was much better.
"If we want to get cars off the roads, we want people
to do it willingly," Wang said.
"It is not only for the traffic
conditions, but also for the improving the air quality. We want to know the
effects of those measures.
"During the test events, we will also
establish some monitoring stations around the venues to supervise air quality."
Acknowledging some public concern about the Games, BOCOG said it
welcomed media reports that were objective, fair and comprehensive, but opposed
the "politicization of the Olympics".
"We welcome constructive criticism
on our faults and defects, but we resolutely oppose the politicization of
Olympic affairs, for this is not in accordance with the Olympic spirit and
Olympic charter," Jiang Xiaoyu, also a BOCOG executive vice president, said.
The officials also played down the public and media's high expectations
of China's athletes at the Games.
"As stated by our sports officials,
China's sports strength is still in the second tier of the medal tally," Wang
said.
"The unexpected is what makes the Olympics so appealing and
exciting. We want to offer a fair stage for athletes from all over to perform
well."
(China Daily 08/07/2007 page 1)
Vocabulary:
state-of-the-art： 最先進的
（英語點津 Linda 編輯）
About the broadcaster:
Bernice Chan is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Originally from
Vancouver, Canada, Bernice has written for newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong
and most recently worked as a broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation, producing current affairs shows and
documentaries.
