Food crisis at Paris Olympics Village, poor quality sparks health concerns for athletes
The Paris Olympics, the biggest sporting tournament in the world, is facing an unexpected shortcoming in the French capital. Athletes at the Games Village reported a severe shortage of food. Furthermore, they complained of raw meat being served.
Interestingly, Indian athletes also complained about the limited food options available at the Paris Olympics Games Village and are not happy with the same, as reported by The Indian Express.
Additionally, the French newspaper L’Équipe and BBC reported on limited food supplies, including the shortage of eggs at breakfast and the shortage of grilled meat at the Olympic Village.
For five weeks, Sodexo Live, the official partner for the Paris Olympics and Paralympics in catering employed 1,000 people, serving 40,000 daily meals for close to 15,000 athletes at the Village.
Sodexo Live acknowledges the huge demand at the Paris Olympics Athletes Village
Additionally, Sodexo Live is also providing catering for the general public at around 15 Olympics 2024 competition venues. Notably, the high demand has outweighed the supply despite having six main dining areas offering a variety of international cuisines.
Interestingly, Sodexo Live has acknowledged the huge demand and is constantly working to increase food volumes. Sodexo Live opened the Olympic and Paralympic canteens on July 12 with the 3,500-seater dining facility at a time, serving food 24x7 during the Paris Olympics and Paris Paralympics 2024.
Chief Executive of the British Olympic Association, Andy Anson highlighted the issues like raw meat and shortage of eggs at the Village. Carrefour group, responsible for supplying fresh products to the Olympic Village, confirmed that they will revise enhancing the quantities.
"It was requested to revise upwards the quantities initially planned, which the group will be able to satisfy," a spokesman for the Carrefour group stated (via BBC).
A strict quality charter was developed in the last four years to meet the goal of reducing the carbon footprint of meals produced during the Games, relative to the London Olympics in 2012.
For the same reason, a quarter of the food will be sourced in a 250km radius from Paris. Moreover, all meat, milk, and eggs will be from France.