China vegetables to get Olympic identity codes

As if China didn't have its hands full keeping tabs on its 1.3 billion people, the country will now begin tracking its vegetables.

In an attempt to ensure food safety during the 2008 Olympics, Beijing is to give every cabbage, carrot and pea pod its own identity number and file.

If there is a "safety incident" the vegetable's file can be immediately checked and its origins traced.

The city will need more than 5,000 tonnes of vegetables during the Olympics, mostly from Beijing and the northern Chinese provinces of Hebei and Shandong.

The report made no mention of fruit.