| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
|
| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
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The food for Games carefully screened
By Lois M. Collins
Deseret News staff writer
The screening people endure to get into Olympic venues is no tighter than the process used to guard the food that will be consumed there.
The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food and Compass Foods, the official catering services supplier for the 2002 Winter Games, have reached an agreement to plug what might have been a security hole in one of the kitchens, though there's no indication safety was ever compromised.
The issue was security at Compass' food preparation area at the University of Utah student union building, said Larry Lewis, spokesman for the agriculture department.
That's where food has been prepared, cooked and chilled prior to being shipped to the venues.
Food inspectors reported that someone — if they were so inclined — could tamper with the food in the preparation rooms. In response, Lewis said, Compass Foods will put barriers around the kitchen area, provide more credentials for kitchen-area workers and upgrade the security system.
The department will monitor implementation of the security measures.
"Our inspectors found that security was not such to prevent anybody from going into the food preparation area," Lewis said. "We wanted a way to have only them in the food prep area and to see that the food transportation system is secure."
Olympic security planners, Salt Lake Organizing Committee's food safety chief, Compass Foods and the agriculture food inspectors all worked together to solve the potential problem.
Food safety — both safe handling and preparation to avoid illness and the potential for sabotage — is serious business at the post-Sept. 11 Games.
Lewis describes the food system as a "closed loop" with precautions that might make an armored car company envious. Raw materials are housed in West Jordan at Sysco Intermountain, the official food distributor "inside the fence" at the Games. Food stays there at the proper temperature until it goes to the kitchens.
The trucks carrying the food are sealed when they leave Sysco, so officials can tell if the cargo has been opened or tampered with. The trucks are also X-rayed, Lewis said.
The shipments also are timed. They must arrive at locations in a certain amount of time or the shipment is rejected.
The kitchen facilities must be just as secure. That means the trucks and the food — together or apart — are never left unattended. And when the food goes to the venues to be served, the trucks are sealed again, the cargo checked, the journey timed.
The Deseret News was unable to reach a Compass Foods spokesman for comment.
E-MAIL: lois@desnews.com
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February 13, 2002
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