It may rank as the most humiliating restaurant guide in history: authorities in Shanghai have been forced to draw up a list of establishments where the world's finest swimmers -- in town for the World Aquatic Championships -- can eat without fear of attracting a career-destroying drug ban.
Only restaurants that serve meat that is free of clenbuterol, a fat-burning substance that is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency but widely used by Chinese farmers to make their pork more lean, are included. The list was published under heavy pressure from teams arriving in China's second city for the championships, which begin tomorrow.
Unfortunately for the image of Shanghai -- and China -- the list is understood to be fairly short: only 15 hotels and a few restaurants can guarantee to serve food that will not affect swimmers' dope-test results.
For athletes, the risk is real. Alberto Contador, the Tour de France champion, was found recently to have the drug in his system; he blames it on eating contaminated meat.
The concerns of visiting teams were prompted by a report released recently by a laboratory in Cologne that undertakes studies on behalf of the international anti-doping watchdog. According to its findings, 22 out of 28 travellers who visited China returned home with clenbuterol in their blood; relatively low levels, but enough to get an athlete a two-year ban.
Organisers admitted that it was difficult to guarantee the safety of meat across the city.
The dope-free restaurant guide, which has recommendations centred on large international hotels, has been distributed among team captains.
Several had asked to be allowed to ship meat from their own countries but the requests were withdrawn once the clenbuterol-free restaurant guide was published.
The production of the list amounts to an admission of failure by the Shanghai authorities, who began a drive to eradicate the clenbuterol problem from the city's restaurants this year.
The issue of food safety in China has become more politically explosive in recent months since it emerged that Communist Party officials and government organisations across the country had been setting aside special food for themselves.
North of the capital is a place called the Beijing Customs Vegetable Base and Country Club, a 14-hectare (33acre) organic farm producing highquality supplies for the exclusive use of officials at the customs office. Some reports suggest that many other provincial governments are engaging in the same ploy to guarantee that party officials eat only the finest organic fruit and vegetables.
The Shanghai championships -- touted as another international showcase for the glories of the world's second-biggest economy -- come amid a series of food safety failings that have shattered ordinary Chinese people's confidence in what they eat. The scandals, which have included the addition of tiny plastic balls to bulk up sacks of rice and the introduction of leather extract to enhance protein levels in watered-down milk, have exposed the Government's lax regulation of its vast farming industry.
Beijing's concerns over food safety are palpable. Disasters in which large numbers of children and adults have been made ill are viewed as yet another potential source of widespread unrest in a country where the rising cost of living, land seizures and factory closures are already potent sources of irritation.
Perhaps the biggest scandal in recent years centred on the presence of highly toxic industrial substances in infant milk powder. Despite official assurances that the problem has been solved, faith in domestic milk powder brands has all but vanished, giving rise to a vibrant business smuggling foreign milk powder over the border from Hong Kong.
Only restaurants that serve meat that is free of clenbuterol, a fat-burning substance that is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency but widely used by Chinese farmers to make their pork more lean, are included. The list was published under heavy pressure from teams arriving in China's second city for the championships, which begin tomorrow.
Unfortunately for the image of Shanghai -- and China -- the list is understood to be fairly short: only 15 hotels and a few restaurants can guarantee to serve food that will not affect swimmers' dope-test results.
For athletes, the risk is real. Alberto Contador, the Tour de France champion, was found recently to have the drug in his system; he blames it on eating contaminated meat.
The concerns of visiting teams were prompted by a report released recently by a laboratory in Cologne that undertakes studies on behalf of the international anti-doping watchdog. According to its findings, 22 out of 28 travellers who visited China returned home with clenbuterol in their blood; relatively low levels, but enough to get an athlete a two-year ban.
Organisers admitted that it was difficult to guarantee the safety of meat across the city.
The dope-free restaurant guide, which has recommendations centred on large international hotels, has been distributed among team captains.
Several had asked to be allowed to ship meat from their own countries but the requests were withdrawn once the clenbuterol-free restaurant guide was published.
The production of the list amounts to an admission of failure by the Shanghai authorities, who began a drive to eradicate the clenbuterol problem from the city's restaurants this year.
The issue of food safety in China has become more politically explosive in recent months since it emerged that Communist Party officials and government organisations across the country had been setting aside special food for themselves.
North of the capital is a place called the Beijing Customs Vegetable Base and Country Club, a 14-hectare (33acre) organic farm producing highquality supplies for the exclusive use of officials at the customs office. Some reports suggest that many other provincial governments are engaging in the same ploy to guarantee that party officials eat only the finest organic fruit and vegetables.
The Shanghai championships -- touted as another international showcase for the glories of the world's second-biggest economy -- come amid a series of food safety failings that have shattered ordinary Chinese people's confidence in what they eat. The scandals, which have included the addition of tiny plastic balls to bulk up sacks of rice and the introduction of leather extract to enhance protein levels in watered-down milk, have exposed the Government's lax regulation of its vast farming industry.
Beijing's concerns over food safety are palpable. Disasters in which large numbers of children and adults have been made ill are viewed as yet another potential source of widespread unrest in a country where the rising cost of living, land seizures and factory closures are already potent sources of irritation.
Perhaps the biggest scandal in recent years centred on the presence of highly toxic industrial substances in infant milk powder. Despite official assurances that the problem has been solved, faith in domestic milk powder brands has all but vanished, giving rise to a vibrant business smuggling foreign milk powder over the border from Hong Kong.
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