Dog off the menu at Beijing Olympics

Dog is off the menu, at least in the 112 official Olympic restaurants in Beijing where authorities have asked chefs to remove the meat from the menu. The reasoning is that they don’t want to offend foreigners. But it is not a request by the Beijing Catering Trade Association since any restaurant breaching the ban will be black-listed. The organisation has also encouraged other restaurants across the capital to remove the meat from their menus too, but they will not face fines if they refuse. Xiong Yumei, deputy director of the Beijing Tourism Bureau, has suggested that, "If a customer orders dog meat, restaurant staff should patiently suggest another entree". In other attempts to welcome foreigners authorities have also told people to queue up politely, to smile and not to spit on the streets [BBC / Xinhua].