Vegetable production, supplies well guaranteed for athletes during upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics

In an effort to ensure the stable supply of vegetables for athletes during the upcoming Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, a vegetable growing base situated in Beijing has made full plans for the cultivation of various varieties of plants.

A vegetable growing base in Beijing. (Wu Yibin/Beijing Daily)

Shortly after the Beijing Organising Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games officially released the athletes' menu featuring 678 special dishes selected from all over the world, the catering service provider issued a long list of food materials, including more than 80 kinds of vegetables.

"The Beijing Winter Olympic Games is a major event in the world, and we must do our best to cultivate vegetables for the athletes," said Han Guicheng, the person in charge of the vegetable growing base.

Han added that in order to ensure the high quality of these vegetables, the planting area for various vegetable varieties has been reasonably planned according to the timing arrangements of the Winter Olympic and the Paralympic events.

Due to the coldness of the winters in Beijing, of the more than 80 different kinds of vegetables, 26 varieties cannot be planted at the vegetable growing base. With the approval of related government departments, the production base together in coordination with another base in southeast China's Fujian province and related enterprises selected high-quality suppliers certified by local governments from all over the country. At present, the suppliers for these 21 kinds of vegetables have already been determined.

Food safety is a top priority. According to Han, all the vegetables supplied for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics have to undergo stringent testing and random inspection by enterprises, third parties and relevant departments, and test records, samples, and reports are to be kept three months after fulfillment of the supply so as to ensure that each variety of vegetable is traceable.

Besides, these vegetables will also be distributed by dedicated vehicles whose full safety will be ensured during the transportation process through the installation of video surveillance and GPS positioning systems, in addition to the implementation of other technical measures.

Meanwhile, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, comprehensive disinfection measures will be carried out before each trip, while the nucleic acid testing of personnel and the vehicle interior will be carried out on a regular basis.