- Holy cow! - Major meat recall in US - Arty ban on beef

Food news

Cloned meat off the table... for now

Food produced from cloned animals will not be commercially available for a long time.

"I don't believe (there will be) cloned food (from animals) in a sense that is realistic here in America or in Europe in our lifetime, simply because the cost of producing a clone directly for the food chain is over 10,000 dollars," said Patrick Cunningham, an animal genetics professor at the University of Dublin.

The US Food and Drug Administration and its European counterpart in January approved the sale of food from cloned animals and their offspring after years of research.

Mark Walton, the CEO of ViaGen, one of the animal cloning companies in the United States, explained: "cloning technology is in fact a breeding technology... the only one that enables a breeder to actually reproduce exactly an animal."

One serving of cloned... please.

While for now "there is no such thing as cloning food (from animals), of course if you are a vegetarian, potatoes, asparagus... the list is quite long of vegetable products that are cloned products."

Yet "in the animal world the average cost of a cloned bovine is 13,500 dollars. So if you think the steak is expensive today you can imagine the cost with a 13,000-dollar animal," he added.

As for the offspring of a cloned animal, research so far in the United States and Europe has shown it is hard to find a health reason for them not to be commercially available, Walton noted.

That could be a plus for the environment, with less water required for raising every herd animal.

"So cloning could have a direct benefit to the consumers," he argued.

Cloning could have great potential if teamed with genetic modification techniques which are fast evolving, Cunningham added.

Would you eat cloned meat?

Cloned Meat I recently heard that PETA has offered a reward for the growing of "test-tube" meat. i.e. tissue is grown and not the entire animal - I'd rather be a vegetarian! As for animal cloning Dolly and others all seem to age pre-maturely. Arthritis and cancers are still problematic for cloned animals, so personally I'd choose to steer clear! - Adrian Blundell   This is just the beginning, soon cloning or rather growing meat in a in an "abattoiry" as opposed to the abattoir business will be our daily encounters. - Kali   Cloned meat After milions of years of natural selection bringing us to the present, man think that we can better nature. We will have to stop dreaming of replacing what creation already put in place perfectly for us. We are not clever enough. to much can go wrong. Example: mad cows disease. - Dalien   What's the problem Most of the food we eat is genetically modified anyhow! While I don't eat meat anyway, I don't have a problem with the concept. Once perfected this is an ideal way of doing away with so many diseases that can affect the herd. I'm sure we're going to have a few hiccups before then... but then again the Wright brothers had the same problem. Trial and Error... eventually it will come right. - Robert   no way Us humans should not play God, we could disrupt the balance of nature and end up paying the price in the long run. Food shortages through out the world is a problem, but I am sure they can come up with another solution. Soon they will be cloning more than animals. - Gillian   this is a sick world this is just disgusting, eating genetic meat, eating meat....just goes to show that us humans are a plague to the world. - JaXXaJ   yum yum Meat is meat and a man must eat. - anita       Name Email Subject Comment