Olympics-China to monitor Olympic food plants 24 hours a day
BEIJING, April 8 (Reuters) - China will post inspectors around-the-clock in factories making food for the Beijing Olympic Games as part of efforts to prevent sabotage and safety problems, the country's top quality inspection agency announced.
In the wake of international scares over toxins, germs and dangerous flaws in Chinese-made products, Beijing has had to respond to concerns that athletes and other visitors to the Aug 8-24 Games could be exposed to unsafe food.
"Senior officials should be stationed in the plants non-stop, 24 hours a day," China Quality Daily said on Tuesday, citing a new set of regulations issued by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
Access to the plants, mostly in and around Beijing, would be heavily restricted with "sealed-off management", the newspaper said.
Stringent requirements would also be imposed on the sanitation of facilities, transport, and procurement of raw materials, while detailed records were to be kept at every stage of production with rigorous testing, it said.
"The goal is to set a high threshold for products leaving the factory gates and to ensure food safety for the Olympics ... Sabotage must be strictly prevented," the newspaper said.
Beijing has made meticulous preparations for the Games, which China sees as a debut for the country as a rising global power.
Global concerns over terrorism and the prospect of sabotaged Olympic food supplies have prompted Games organisers to keep a tight lid on information about suppliers.
The safety of meat has also been a focus of concern over the possibility that residual drugs in animal feed could cause positive doping tests. (Reporting by Chris Buckley and Guo Shipeng; Editing by Ken Wills and Alex Richardson)
