Yeah Right - That'll work.

[OverdueSpy]

Do we really expect some lackey standing around the Olympic kitchen to maintain a log verifying the tracking number attached to each individual vegetable? We all know how hard it is to convince a computer operator fill out a check list much less a Chef or his assistant. I can hear the news feed now. "Olympic athleets lacking vital nutrition because vegetables cannot be verified quickly enough to feed the hungry Olympiads. Teams urged to eat at McDonald's until the next meal can be properly registered."

BEIJING (Reuters) - As if China didn't have its hands full keeping tabs on its 1.3 billion people, the country will now begin tracking its vegetables.

In an attempt to ensure food safety during the 2008 Olympics, Beijing is to give every cabbage, carrot and pea pod its own identity number and file, the Beijing News reported on Wednesday.

If there is a "safety incident" the vegetable's file can be immediately checked and its origins traced, the newspaper said, in a report accompanied by graphics showing personnel at computers tracking each vegetable's path from farm to plate.

"Safety incidents" was a likely reference to pesticide or pollutants in the soil. The environment group Greenpeace has found banned pesticides and excessive levels of other chemicals in vegetables supplied from China.

"After going through inspections at the distribution center, standard and qualified vegetables can enter Olympic kitchens," the Beijing News report said.

The city will need more than 5,000 tonnes of vegetables during the Olympics, mostly from Beijing and the northern Chinese provinces of Hebei and Shandong.

The report made no mention of fruit.

Source: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsAr...archived=False

[Evil Moo]

Saddly OverdueSpy, I think they do need to check. China wants to play with the "big dogs" of the world, and as of current only lacks the image and polish to do so. These Olympics are quite important. Difficult to be a respected power when you can't even properly feed your own honored guests without poisoning them.

[rcgreen]

Did you ever think when you eat Chinese,
It ain't pork or chicken, but a fat siamese,
Yet the food tastes great, so ya don't complain,
but that's not chicken in your chicken chow
mein.
Seems to me I ordered sweet and sour pork,
But Garfield's on my fork,
He's purrin here on my fork...

There's a cat in the kettle at the Peking Moon,
The place that I eat everyday at noon,
They can feed you cat and you'll never know,
Once they wrap it up in dough, boys,
They fry it real crisp in dough.

Chou Lin asked if I wanted more,
As he was dialin up his buddy at the old pet store,
I said not today,
I lost my apettite,
There's two cats in my belly and they want to fight,
I was suckin on a Rolaid and a Tums or two,
When I swear I heard it mew, boy,
And that is when I knew...

There's a cat in the kettle at the Peking Moon,
I think I gotta stop eating there at noon,
They say that it's beef or fish or pork,
But it's purrin there on my fork,
There's a hairball on my fork.

http://www.azlyrics.us/279501

[spamdies]

Has anyone seen rice grain s/n 12388383889879012920397? Where in the $#$@$ is rice grain s/n 12388383889879012920397?

[nihil]

I think something might have "got lost in the translation"?

Batch and lot control have been standard in the food, drinks and pharmaceutical industries for years now. Like way before PCs

If you don't believe me go and check out the cans of beer in your 'fridge.

WARNING TO NEWBIES

Pour the contents into a glass before examining the base for the s/n