Beijing, July 25 - A successful Olympics will help convince the rest of the world that China's food exports are safe to eat, a senior official in charge of food safety said as the country prepares to host the Olympic Games next month.
Beijing is going to great lengths to ensure a perfect Games, including growing vegetables at special bases and breeding "Olympic pork" after food quality issues gained international attention last year.
Food for the athletes is being provided by specially certified Chinese enterprises, augmented by imports supplied by U.S. meat producer Tyson Foods Inc, among others, and catered by Philadelphia-based Aramark.
"We are doing this to ensure a safe food environment for international visitors, as currently, the most essential thing for China is the Olympic Games," Wang Daning, head of import and export food safety at China's quality administration, said in an interview at his office.
Wang, a chemist who formerly headed a food safety research institute, was named to his post at the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine last summer, in the midst of a storm of international criticism over quality problems in Chinese exports of drug components, food and goods.
Before the exports grabbed headlines overseas, Chinese legislators had also called for better controls over fake and shoddy products. A draft law on food safety has been approved by the State Council, China's cabinet, but still needs ratification.
"I think the Olympics food inspection experience will improve the overall food inspection level in China," Wang said, adding that food contamination and pesticide residue are not unique to China.
The United States is addressing its own food safety issues this summer, as regulators variously blamed tomatoes, peppers and cilantro for a salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 1,000 people.
"According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, the number of food safety cases in America, the EU, Japan or China every year is almost the same. So it is a universal problem to solve."
EXPORT MARKETS
China is eager to make a good impression, since it is hoping to increase food processing and exports to help employ a large rural population and curb their migration to the cities.
Farms and processors in Shandong province are already a significant source of food for South Korea and Japan, while almost all the food for Hong Kong is grown in southern China.
Chinese poultry exporters are pressing for market access to the United States for cooked chicken, backed by U.S. poultry exporters who fear retaliatory barriers on chicken feet and wingtips if the U.S. does not reopen discussions that have been stalled because of Congressional concerns over food safety.
The two countries are also making progress on certification for seafood and low-acid canned foods, after the United States agreed to certify pre-approved exporters in China, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt said in May.
The United States has historically in principle allowed entry to any product that met national standards, but the food safety crises last year highlighted regulators' inability to keep up with the sheer volume of imports.
But trade aside, Wang also hoped that Beijing's food would make a positive impression on foreign teams, many of whom cook their own food to maintain diets and a sense of familiarity before competition day.
"I am pretty sure that they will be attracted by the variety of Beijing food during their stay in Beijing," Wang said, urging Reuters to follow up after the Games and see how the athletes enjoyed the Olympics food.
"Getting involved in a country's culture always starts from trying its food."