COLORADO SPRINGS — When a caterer working for the United States Olympic Committee went to a supermarket in China last year, he encountered a piece of chicken — half of a breast — that measured 14 inches. “Enough to feed a family of eight,” said Frank Puleo, a caterer from Staten Island who has traveled to China to handle food-related issues.

“We had it tested and it was so full of steroids that we never could have given it to athletes. They all would have tested positive.”

In preparing to take a delegation of more than 600 athletes to the Summer Games in Beijing this year, the U.S.O.C. faces food issues beyond steroid-laced chicken. In recent years, some foods in China have been found to be tainted with insecticides and illegal veterinary drugs, and the standards applied to meat there are lower than those in the United States, raising fears of food-borne illnesses.

In the past two years, the U.S.O.C. has tried to figure out how to avoid such dangers at the Olympics. It has made arrangements with sponsors like Kellogg’s and Tyson Foods, which will ship 25,000 pounds of lean protein to China about two months before the opening ceremony, but will hire local vendors and importers to secure other foods and cooking equipment at the Games.

The bulk of that food will be served at the U.S.O.C.’s training center at Beijing Normal University, about 20 minutes from the Olympic Green, where for the first time United States athletes will have access to their own facility providing three meals a day. The dishes served will be compliant with the U.S.O.C.’s overhauled diet plan, placing a greater emphasis on nutrition, which officials hope will boost athletes’ performance.

The diet plan is already in place for the athletes residing at each of the three United States training centers — here and in Chula Vista, Calif., and Lake Placid, N.Y. And the organization is urging all United States athletes to be aware of what they ingest. Under the World Anti-Doping Agency’s drug-testing code, athletes are responsible for whatever is in their bodies, regardless of the source.

Much of the dietary strategy falls to Jacque Hamilton, the executive chef of the U.S.O.C. She has consulted with dietitians and sous chefs over the past year and a half to modify more than 1,500 recipes and prepare to serve about 700 meals a day at the U.S.O.C.’s training center in Beijing. Many countries do not have the resources for a training center in Beijing, but those that do may choose to serve their own food as well.

Ms. Hamilton has lowered sodium, decreased fats and eliminated trans fats — even from rich dishes like macaroni and cheese and rice pudding — while preserving the flavor. Most recipes must pass a taste test at the Hamilton household before she lets the athletes sample them, and on a recent afternoon at the Olympic Training Center here, Ms. Hamilton unveiled moo shu pork wraps, mango rice balls and a seaweed and soba noodle salad, hoping to gain approval for inclusion on the Beijing menu.

In front of each dish sat a placard informing athletes of vital nutritional information like serving size, calorie content and grams of fats and carbohydrates.

In a way, Ms. Hamilton is a natural fit for this mission; she is a 54-year-old mother of two who says she has never fed her family white bread or canned meats or vegetables. She recently recounted how her son, Jeremy, 12 years old at the time, came home one day and asked why she had been abusing him for so long.

“I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ ” Ms. Hamilton said, laughing. “And he said, ‘Why did I have to have my first Twinkie at someone else’s house?’ ”

There were no signs of Twinkies in the dining hall at the training center, but that does not necessarily mean athletes would be banished if they ate one. Adam Korzun, a dietitian who will be traveling to Beijing to ensure that every meal follows the nutritional standards, said no foods were forbidden.

“It’s all a matter of how and when you work it into your diet,” he said.

Sometimes, the athletes do not have a choice. Mr. Korzun recounted several times when teams competing in foreign countries were presented with culinary challenges. The triathlon team encountered a dish called “Be Dental Alveoli Quick to Salad Bangkok Hot Paddle Fish,” during a meet in Thailand. And the men’s weight lifting team was served barbecued guinea pig before a competition in Peru.

Myles Porter, who is hoping to earn a spot on the judo team for the Paralympic Games, said he lost about 20 pounds during the Para Pan-American Games in Brazil because he ate mostly pasta.

“You can’t just eat that for two weeks and expect to be at your best,” Mr. Porter said.

中文概要：

（美国科罗拉多泉市）—一位为美国奥组委提供餐饮服务的工作人员人员去年到中国处理食品相关事宜时，去了一家超市，他看到14英寸大小的半块鸡胸肉时说：“这足够供一家八口吃了”。（1英寸=2.54厘米）

他还说：“我们检测了这块肉， 它含有太多类固醇了，我们绝不会把这种东西给运动员吃。”

美国今年将组织一个超过600名运动员的夏季奥运会代表团到北京，美奥组委面临的食品问题远不止steroid-laced 鸡这么简单。近几年，中国的一些食品被发现受杀虫剂和非法兽药污染，肉类检验标准也比美国的低，引发对食品造成的疾病的恐慌。

在过去的两年里，美国奥组委试图探索出怎样在奥运期间避免出现危险状况的方案。已经做出的安排是让Kellogg’s 和Tyson Foods这些赞助商在奥运开幕式前两个月就把重达25，000磅的精益蛋白运抵北京，但是会雇用当地的供货商和进口商提供其他食品和烹饪设备。

距奥林匹克公园20分钟路程的北京师范大学是美奥组委的训练中心，这些食物将在那里提供给美国运动员，这也是美国运动员第一次可以使用他们自己的器具设备提供一日三餐。运动员餐将完全符合美奥组委严格把关的饮食计划，美国官员希望这个注重营养分配的饮食计划能使运动员表现出他们的最好状态。

这个饮食计划已经在运动员居住的三个美国训练中心实行。美奥组委已经在催劝所有的运动员注意他们摄取的食物。根据国际反兴奋剂组织的药检规定，不管来源是什么，运动员应对摄入体内的任何物质负责。

很多国家都没有美国那么大的资源提供给在被北京的训练中心，但是那些拥有强大资源优势的国家也可能会选择自己提供食物给自己国家的运动员。