November 8, 2007

China denies raising "special pork" for Olympics

The Beijing Olympics organising committee denied media reports that China is raising special pigs fed on herbal medicine and trained with daily exercises as a special pork diet for 2008 Olympics athletes.

The committee in a statement, has called the reports "false and an exaggeration", and absolutely "unnecessary for the Beijing municipal government to require companies to produce so-called special Olympic pigs."

Recent articles featured a Beijing-based company called Qianxihe Food Group, which is raising pork for Olympic athletes. The pigs were reportedly bred in a secret location with 24-hour security monitoring, fed Chinese herbal medicines to ward off sickness and had two hours of outdoor exercise a day, the AP reported.

Under pressure after a number of tainted-food scares earlier this year, Chinese officials in August promised to track food production ahead of the games and test food destined for the Olympic Village.