Food safety: Olympians bringing their own food to China
The United States Olympic Committee isn't taking any chances at the Olympics this year. To ensure that their athletes are eating the most nutritious meals possible, and to avoid food issues like steroid-heavy chicken breasts and tainted meats, they'll be shipping in 25,000 pounds of lean protein ahead of the games.This year, for the first time ever, American athletes will have their own center where they can eat three meals a day. Much of the meat in their meals will come from America, while fish will be imported from Japan and fruit from Australia. The USOC wants to make sure that athletes have access to balanced nutrition to improve their performance and also avoid any doping questions if athletes eat an animal that's been pumped full of steroids.
On the one hand, it's kind of a shame. Part of the beauty of traveling to new places is enjoying the local cuisine and learning about local customs. But the USOC says that once they are finished competing, American Olympic athletes are encouraged to go and search out local meals.









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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-09-2008 @ 10:45AM
bob sakamano said...
...but the they arent traveling for the "beauty" of china.
They have been training for probably a good part of their life to compete in the olympics. You are saying they should go there and blow all of that to have some low mein.
What are the odds that all of this is at a request of the athletes and their trainers?
I think they have their priorities intact.
Reply
2-09-2008 @ 11:00AM
Bethany Sanders said...
Bob,
I don't think I said that at all. I did say that it's a shame that they'd be missing out on local cuisine during what has to be the trip of a lifetime, and then I noted that after competing they'll be able to do so.
I do have to wonder, though, what we Americans would think if we were hosting the Olympics and a visiting country imported all their own food.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Bethany