Just before the Beijing Olympics, Chinese news agency Xinhua is reporting that popular Peking Duck restaurant Quanjude is guaranteeing all roast duck served to Olympic athletes will be 100% safe after passing an anti-doping test. What exactly does that mean? That's a little unclear, since the only unhealthy substance mentioned in the article on the testing is colon bacillus (aka E. coli). At least athletes shouldn't have to worry about food poisoning.

There is nothing mentioned about factory farm conditions in raising the ducks, their diet prior to arriving at your table, or whether the birds would pass any kind of organic certification, presumably because you don't really want to know. Having eaten roast duck more than once while staying in Beijing, I can tell you it tastes unlike any duck I've had anywhere else. However, I'm not sure I'd want to know exactly how it got to my table. While Quanjude is arguably the most well known roast duck in Beijing, if you're going to the Olympics (or just to Beijing) Li Qun Roast Duck restaurant, which is only a few blocks away, provides a more authentic atmosphere and you can at least see how the food is prepared before you eat it.