Beijing Olympic officials have insisted local cuisine is safe to eat despite a series of scares, and said there is no need for the US Olympic team to ship their own food to the Games in August.

US officials reportedly plan to send tons of their own food including beef and chicken to Beijing for the Games as they are afraid of the danger of additives, such as steroids, in Chinese produce that could lead to positive doping tests.

However officials in Beijing said Chinese cuisine was safe and urged US athletes to put aside any food safety concerns.

"The standards of Olympic food safety are much higher than international standards so all the delegations can enjoy the food we provide," said Tang Yunhua, spokeswoman for the Beijing Municipal Office of Food Safety.

"We have a basket of measures to guarantee food safety and to monitor the food safety situation in the Olympic venues... " Tang Yunhua

The New York Times reported this month that the US Olympic Committee had arranged to ship 25,000 pounds (11 tons) of food to Beijing two months ahead of the Games.

No delegations will be allowed to bring their own food supplies into the Athletes Village, which is standard practice at the Olympics, with several restaurants set to supply meals 24 hours a day.

However US officials plan to serve up their own meals, three times a day, to their athletes at Beijing Normal University, their training headquarters.

In addition to concerns about steroids, the report said US Olympic officials were worried about pesticides and additives, and that hygiene standards for meat were lower in China than in the United States.

Clean food campaign

Tang said all competitors would be safe from health hazards related to contaminated food, thanks to a campaign launched five years ago that has cleaned up China's food supply chain.

"The overall scenario is good, it has improved a lot," Tang told a press conference.

"We have a basket of measures to guarantee food safety and to monitor the food safety situation in the Olympic venues (so) food safety will be guaranteed and ensured."

On doping concerns, Lu Yong, director of the Beijing Municipal Food Safety Monitoring Group, said the reported US fears had no scientific basis.

"There is no report that we have seen suggesting that athletes who have eaten meat which contains (banned substances) have ever tested positive for drugs," Lu said.

"If you come across such a report, let me know."

Food security is a key issue in China ahead of the Olympics after a wave of scares in recent years involving food and product safety.

In the latest case, Chinese-made dumplings contaminated by pesticides sickened thousands of Japanese last month.