Port Adelaide is leaving nothing to chance when it comes to its food in Shanghai

PORT Adelaide is not taking any risks when it comes the pre-match diet in China.

PORT Adelaide has gone to the length of bringing its own meat and produce to China to maximise its preparations.

Power dietitian Emily Hartley began working with local chefs several months ago to prepare a menu for the week, with one of the instructions being to import all of the meat because the local version is considered a high-risk food.

Just as the coaching staff is trying to keep the preparations as normal as possible the players are being fed familiar food in the lead-up to Saturday’s game against Gold Coast.

“It is a little bit more difficult than a standard away game,” Hartley said.

“We’re really lucky that we have worked closely with the chefs so we organised a menu a couple of months before we arrived which means they had enough time to import a lot of the produce from Australia, particularly the meats.

“There’s just a higher risk for the meats in China so we are lucky we were able to get them from Australia to limit that risk.

“We’re really lucky because there’s such a wide variety of foods, so it means the players are getting the best nutrition possible, they’re coming into trainings fuelled and it means they’ll be in the best shape possible for the game on Saturday.”

Originally published as Port Adelaide is leaving nothing to chance when it comes to its food in Shanghai