The official pork supplier to the 2008 Beijing Olympics is to rear organically-fed pigs at secret locations to provide athletes with safe meat guaranteed not to cause them to fail doping tests.

在供应商千禧鹤集团(Qianxihe Food Group)宣布采取上述特别措施之际，适逢中国产品爆发一系列丑闻，令国际社会对中国食品、药品和其它产品的安全感到担忧。

News of the extraordinary extra efforts being taken by supplier Qianxihe Food Group comes amid international concern about the safety of Chinese food, drugs and other products following a string of scandals.

北京奥运会将于明年8月8日开幕，组织者迫切希望打消参赛者的顾虑，让他们相信，他们不必担心奥运村食品的质量。

Organisers of the Beijing Games, which open on August 8 next year, are keen to reassure¹ participants they have no need to worry about the quality of food served in the Olympic Village.

千禧鹤发言人牛胜难表示，在生猪喂养中使用生长激素，在中国很常见，但可想而知，食用这种方式生产的猪肉可能会让运动员无法通过兴奋剂检测。

Niu Shengnan, a Qianxihe spokesman, said the use of growth hormones² in pig-rearing was standard in China, but eating meat produced this way could conceivably cause competitors to fail anti-doping tests.

牛胜难表示，奥运猪将选择受到严密监测的种猪母猪繁殖的猪仔，并且只喂养有机饲料，不会对它们使用类固醇。

No steroids would be used on the Olympic pigs, which would be chosen from carefully monitored parents and only fed organically-grown feed, Mr Niu said.

他表示，普通生猪一般6个月即可出栏，而用有机方式喂养的生猪，预计将要多喂养1至3个月的时间，但千禧鹤愿意承担这一额外成本。

Such an approach was expected to add from one to three months to the six months usually needed to rear a pig for slaughter³, but Qianxihe was willing to bear the extra cost, he said.

牛胜难表示：“我们是奥运会的独家供应商。这是一项政治任务，政治任务是不能谈成本的。”千禧鹤品牌的英文名称是Lucky Crane。该公司拒绝透露生产奥运猪肉的养殖场所在地。

“We are the exclusive supplier to the Olympics. This is a political duty and you shouldn't talk about cost when it comes to political duty,” Mr Niu said. Qianxihe, which uses the English-language brand Lucky Crane, declined to reveal the location of the farms it was using for the Olympic pork.

该公司表示：“从防恐的角度来说，猪肉养殖场属于秘密，在奥运会和残奥会(Paralympics)闭幕之前，不能公布它们的名称，不能进行宣传，也不能让陌生人进入。”

“Speaking from the perspective of terrorism prevention, the pig farms are secret and cannot announce their names, conduct publicity⁴ or allow entry by strangers until after the Olympics and Paralympics,” the company said.

北京奥运会的筹备工作一直进展顺利，但是对空气污染和食品安全的担忧给它笼罩上了一层阴影。

Worries about air pollution and food safety have clouded Beijing’s otherwise smooth countdown to the Games.