After the recent frozen gyoza scare in Japan, it appears that Japan’s concerns over Chinese food are shared by the rest of the world. As a result, Chinese government has selected 36 farms that can provide food to athletes at the Beijing Olympics which begin in about 5 and a half months time.
In these specially selected farms, all of the food is grown in a way that will, hopefully, provide safer produce for the athletes. This food is then prepared by an American catering firm that has been used over a dozen times before for Olympic events.
The AOC (Australian Olympic Committee) has gone further by issuing directives about what to eat and what not to eat, as well as bringing some of their own food all the way from home. There are also orders to drink only the bottled water provided by the sponsor, Coca-Cola (not sure if this is for safety or publicity, though). Even after all these warnings, it appears that athletes are getting sick while preparing for the games in China.
Is all this fear in Japan and the rest of the world justified? Food has been imported into Japan and the rest of the world from China for over 40 years, yet the recent survey alluded to by James in a February 10 Japan Probe post said that 75.9% of Japanese people will not use Chinese food. Will any of you go out of your way to avoid Chinese food? Should other Olympic Committees also encourage their athletes to bring their own food to the Olympic games?
