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 reassure 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 hormones 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 slaughter, 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 publicity 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.