Meat from cloned animals shows promise

Meat and milk from cloned cattle and their offspring is safe to eat, government advisers have determined.

The conclusion by the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes, an independent body that assesses whether food products are safe, increases the likelihood that authorities will approve the sale of foodstuffs from cloned animals.

Andrew Wadge, chief scientist at the Food Standards Agency, said: “The committee has confirmed that meat and milk from cloned cattle and offspring shows no substantial difference to conventionally produced meat and milk and therefore is unlikely to present a food safety risk.”

Previous “safe” rulings by the advisory committee often lead to the granting of a licence. The review was initiated by the FSA after it emerged in the summer that such milk and meat had been sold unwittingly in butchers’ shops without a licence. The committee could not issue a safety ruling because it had no request from a producer wanting to sell such milk or meat; so the FSA submitted a hypothetical application.

The expert panel said there was no evidence of any difference between such meat and that from conventionally-bred cattle. Members concluded that any potential differences between cloned animals and conventional animals was unlikely to exist beyond the second generation.

The committee noted that consumers might want to see effective labelling to be able to distinguish such products. It also recommended gathering further data, as available evidence is relatively limited.

Read more at The Guardian