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Posts Tagged ‘cloned food’

Did You Eat Cloned Meat For Dinner Last Night?

September 17th, 2008

It looks good, doesn’t it?

Stare at this picture long enough, and I guarantee that most of you will actually begin salivating at the thought of wolfing down this juicy cheeseburger.

How about this?

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that milk and meat from the offspring of cloned livestock have entered the U.S. food supply.

“The number of clones is on the rise, and no one is keeping track of all their offspring.

In January, the Food and Drug Administration said products from cloned cattle, pigs and goats … and their conventionally bred offspring — are safe to eat”.

Here is the FDA’s “official” position on the safety of cloned meat as part of the U.S. food supply.

“After years of detailed study and analysis, the Food and Drug Administration has concluded that meat and milk from clones of cattle, swine, and goats, and the offspring of clones from any species traditionally consumed as food, are as safe to eat as food from conventionally bred animals.

There was insufficient information for the agency to reach a conclusion on the safety of food from clones of other animal species, such as sheep”…blah, blah, blah…more

In Europe, officials have declared cloned meat to be technically OK, but “has opposed sales of such food on ethical grounds”.

Here is their official “draft” position on this issue:

“Food products obtained from healthy cattle and pig clones and their offspring, i.e., meat and milk, are within the normal range with respect to the composition and nutritional value of similar products obtained from conventionally bred animals.

In view of these findings, and assuming that unhealthy clones are removed from entering the food chain as is the case with conventionally bred animals, it is very unlikely that any difference exists in terms of food safety between food products originating from clones and their progeny compared with those derived from conventionally bred animals”….blah, blah, blah…more

In Canada, a spokesman for Health Canada said “there are currently no foods from cloned animals approved for sale in Canada.”

Here is Health Canada’s “interim” position on cloned meat:

“Until more is known about the products of this technology, Health Canada will consider foods produced from livestock developed using SCNT and the progeny of such livestock to be captured under the definition of “novel food” in the Food and Drug Regulations in that they have been obtained by a reproductive technology which has not previously been applied to generate animals that would be used to manufacture foods (meat, eggs, milk, etc.) and which may result in a major change in these foods.

They are therefore subject to the regulations in Division 28, Part B, of the Food and Drug Regulations (Novel Foods).

Developers producing cloned animals through SCNT must, therefore, not sell the products or by-products of any cloned animals or their progeny in the human food supply in Canada unless they have been subjected to the pre-market safety assessment required of novel foods”….blah, blah, blah…more

And It Gets Worse

The WSJ tracked down a farmer who admitted to sending cloned livestock to the abattoir.

Phil Lautner, a farmer from Jefferson, Iowa said that he has sent offspring of clones to be slaughtered for food in the past “several years”.

“There’s not one bit of difference between clones and offspring of clones, and offspring of animals that aren’t cloned,” he said.

So What Does The Food Industry Think of Cloned Meat?

Twenty food companies have told a consumer group that they won’t use milk or meat from cloned livestock.

The companies, including Smithfield Foods Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc., were responding to a survey conducted by the Center for Food Safety, a consumer group that opposes animal cloning.

Polls have shown most consumers are uncomfortable with the idea of eating products from cloned livestock, whether for health, ethical or environmental reasons.

At the same time, products from the offspring of cloned animals are trickling into the food supply.

Currently, the best way for consumers to avoid such foods is to eat organic food.

The companies include

Kraft Foods

General Mills

Gerber/Nestle

Campbell Soup Company

Gossner Foods

Smithfield Foods

Ben & Jerry’s

Amy’s Kitchen

California Pizza Kitchen restaurants

Hain Celestial

Cloverland

Oberweis

Prairie

Byrne

Plainview

Clover-Stornetta Dairies

PCC Natural Markets

Albertsons

UPERVALU, and

Harris Teeter

Other companies, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc., have also banned the use of cloned animals in food products.

However, many have not made a similar pledge to avoid using food from the conventionally bred offspring of clones, however, partly because no one is tracking the offspring.

So What Does This Mean To Me?

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It means that this juicy cheeseburger could be made from cloned beef.

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Hungry now?

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