It is not easy to please the palates of more 10,000 nutrition-concerned athletes, but the organizers of the Beijing Games are determined to provide a wide range of cuisine and ensure food safety at the Olympic Village.

"The menus will be diverse, with food from many different countries," Kang Yi, director of the Olympic catering department, said.

"Chinese food will account for only 30 percent of the menu, although it is very popular around the world and we want athletes to experience our food culture," he said.

"But we know that athletes like to eat things that are safe and familiar to keep them healthy. We will give them a good dining experience."

Cards will be put in front of the dishes to show their ingredients and nutritional value, he said.

The menu will include Islamic, vegetarian, low-sugar, Indian and Kosher food and it will rotate every eight days.

"That is not because we Chinese like the number eight, but we want to surprise the athletes with a new menu each day," Kang said.

The main dining hall will have four zones offering Chinese, Asian, international and Mediterranean food, he said.

"There will be a lot of dishes, so no matter where you are from there will be something from your hometown."

To ensure food safety, new regulations have been introduced, Kang said.

In August, the Olympic Food Tracing System - which monitors the production, processing, packaging, transport and distribution of food - was introduced and used at 10 Olympic test events in Beijing.

If there are any outbreaks of food poisoning, the system can identify the guilty products very quickly, he said.

Also, each truck that carries "Olympic" food is fitted with a global positioning system and the driver must follow a predetermined route and keep to a time schedule, Kang said.

During the drive, the temperature and humidity of the food storage area will also be supervised to ensure safety levels are met.

Sohu.com contributed to the story

(China Daily 05/01/2008 page3)