China pledges safe fare for Games

BEIJING, July 10 (Reuters) China, under scrutiny following a series of health scares, has vowed to closely monitor the quality of food served to athletes during next year's Olympics, state media reported today.

The government has set up a rigorous system to control the quality of everything from milk to seafood, Xinhua news agency said.

A series of health scandals have stained the ''made in China'' brand this year. There have been breaches and deaths involving toxins in food, medicines and other products.

''All the procedures involving Olympic food, including production, processing, packaging, storing and transporting, will be closely monitored,'' Xinhua quoted Sun Wenxu, an official with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, as saying.

Information related to the food for consumption during the Olympics will be entered into a database so that supervisors can trace the source of potential incidents, Sun said.

Beijing has also set up a panel of experts, comprising both foreigners and Chinese, to address food safety issues at the Games, Xinhua said.

Athletes, coaches, officials and journalists will probably consume more than 75,000 litres of milk, 330 tons of fruit and vegetables and 750 litres of ketchup during the Olympics, Xinhua cited experts as predicting.

China has publicly acknowledged that failure to tackle food and drug quality problems could damage the nation's global credibility and provoke social instability.

REUTERS TB PM2016