January 15, 2008

I feel like I've eaten this before...

Yoda and Sue, two cloned boars... photo taken from ViaGen's website

In case you haven't read the article already, the Food and Drug Administration has issued a ruling/advisory opinion declaring that food derived from cloned animals is safe. I'm certainly no expert in this area, and I haven't really keep myself up to speed on the most recent literature on the subject. Nevertheless, I think it's important to know where your food comes from and how it was produced... which is why I find this aspect of the potential for cloned products disturbing:
The Food and Drug Administration has concluded that milk and meat from cloned animals, such as these cows, should be allowed on the market. That stance has raised a debate over whether food from clones that are raised organically could still carry the organic label... FDA officials have said they do not expect to require food from clones to be labeled as such, but they may allow foods from ordinary animals to be labeled as not from clones.

And from the New York Times article:
The F.D.A. ruling was a major victory for cloning companies, which hope to use the cloned animals primarily for breeding purposes, selling copies of prize dairy cows, steers and hogs. The company putting the most effort into developing the technology is ViaGen, of Austin, Texas. That company and others have already produced scores of clones that live on American farmsteads, though the F.D.A. has asked the farmers to honor a voluntary moratorium on the sale of clone meat and milk.
Hm... it might not be a bad idea to keep a close eye on ViaGen. Somehow, "ViaGen Kurobuta Pork" doesn't have the same ring as "Roasted Kurobuta Pork Loin, Snake River Farms."

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous2:31 PM

    Hello Jack,

    My name is Shannon and I'm the editorial assistant at Foodbuzz.com. Following up on a recent email invitation to be a part of our newly launched Foodbuzz Featured Publisher program, I just want to reiterate that I am very impressed with the quality of your posts. I would love to send you more details about the program, so if you are interested, please email me at Shannon@foodbuzz.com.

    Cheers!

    Shannon Eliot
    Editorial Assistant, Foodbuzz.com
    shannon@foodbuzz.com

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