Olympics-Beijing denies special pigs being bred for '08
03 Nov 2007 06:31:36 GMT Source: Reuters
(Adds company comment, paragraphs 7-8) BEIJING, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Organisers for next year's Beijing Olympic Games have denied that special pigs are being raised in secluded farms and given extra pampering, adding there was no need for these steps as food safety was not a worry. In a statement posted on the 2008 Games official Web site (www.beijing2008.cn), the organisers said an unnamed company had promoted its pigs as being bred only for the Olympics to try and boost its image and sales. "It is very wrong if they tried to say these things were done for the Olympics. They are manipulating people's feelings about the Games to improve their brand image," the statement said. State media identified the company as Qianxihe Food Group. In August, a Qianxihe spokesman said they were breeding pigs using hormone-free food for Olympic athletes to avoid false-positive doping tests, and that they were being kept under strict quarantine in secret locations to avoid contamination. Some reports in Chinese newspapers said the company was also making its pigs exercise every day to ensure they were healthy and giving them medicinal herbs. A Qianxihe official reached by telephone on Saturday said they were meeting to discuss the issue. "We are communicating with the Olympic organisers, and there's no outcome yet," said the official, who declined to be identified. "We don't know what the problem is." The Games' organisers added all food destined for Olympics use were the same as those sent to the general population. "There is no need to raise 'Olympic pigs' for the Games, as currently 97 percent of the branded pork products in Beijing meet the food safety standard," the statement added. China is in the midst of a crackdown on substandard and fake food, following a series of scandals both at home and abroad.
