Ensuring that food is safely stored and prepared for Olympic athletes and visitors has become the focus for Vancouver food inspectors. (CBC)

Vancouver health officials are keen to make sure that if an athlete's performance is not up to par, it's not due to poisoning from any of the new food outlets that have popped up during the Olympics.

"We wouldn't want to see someone lose a gold medal because they are home or back at the village with a food-borne illness," said Dominic Losito, the regional director of health protection for Vancouver Coastal Health.

It's a situation that could be a recipe for disaster, but so far, there are no reports of athletes falling ill from spoiled food.

The authority has 75 health officers combing Olympic venues and kiosks 18 hours a day, seven days a week.

They are looking at general cleanliness, how food is being handled and if it is hot or cold enough.

Food-serving locations at the Olympic Villages in Vancouver and Whistler and at the International Media Centre are being inspected every day while most other new food-serving locations are visited every two or three days, Losito said.

Most violations minor

Health inspectors have found violations at some new eating spots, but most of offences have been minor.

"Small things can become larger problems. That's why we like to get them nipped in the bud right away," said Losito.

Some examples of deficiencies inspectors have found:

• A food handler at the Alberta Pavilion was seen coughing into her hands and not washing them before preparing food; milk was not stored properly and a water heater could not keep enough water sufficiently hot to meet the demand.
• Sochi House was out of compliance for not monitoring its refrigerators and cleaning towels properly.
• Rodent excrement was discovered at a Boston Pizza kiosk at Canada Hockey Place.

Norovirus complicating diagnoses

Losito said the inspections of year-round Vancouver restaurants have not lagged due to the focus on Games-related food outlets. Anticipating the Olympic onslaught, inspectors got all their usual inspections done between June and the end of January, Losito said.

Complicating the diagnosis of food poisoning is the fact that mid-winter is also a season where the norovirus gastrointestinal infection is common.

There was an outbreak of it at an Olympic security compound near Whistler at the beginning of the Games but officials there believe it has run its course.