China is launching a food safety monitoring system next month at test events for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The system will monitor 10 categories including production, processing, sale and cooking, and daily reports will be issued. It will be implemented at sports events to test facilities and logistics at venues being used for next year’s Games.

The Beijing Municipal Food Safety Office will share the system with all of the other Olympic host cities, including Tianjin and Shanghai.

The move comes amid a lot of publicity in overseas newspapers about the quality of goods that China exports. Health scares have ranged from toxic toothpaste ingredients to pet food and toxic seafood. A lot of reassurance is needed for anyone taking part as a contestant or viewer at the Olympics. The back of a lavatory door does not make a good viewing vista for a major athletic event.

Earlier this month officials announced that athletes and visitors heading to Beijing for the Olympics should not be concerned by recent Chinese food scandals, as many safety measures were being put in place for the Games.

Our illustration shows a Chinese laboratory worker at work in front of foods samples at the Biosafety lab in Beijing.
Source: AFP News Brief