Grocers say no to cloned foods
We’ve talked a lot about animal cloning lately, and the controversy over cloned animals in the food supply (cloned meats and dairy from cloned animals). Although the FDA has approved cloned animal products for public consumption (without mandated labeling of such), major grocers are listening to their customer’s concerns and refusing to stock such products. According to a Progressive Grocer article, Albertsons, PCC Natural Markets, Supervalu, and Harris Teeter chains don’t plan to sell meat or dairy products from cloned animals. What’s more, companies including Kraft Foods, General Mills, and Gerber/Nestle have also said that they will not use ingredients from cloned animals or their offspring. The FDA concluded cloned animals are safe to eat last January.
Because cloned products aren’t labeled, how can you know you aren’t eating something cloned? The only way to be sure is to buy certified organic (for details on organic meat and dairy, check out “Why Go Organic”). The USDA Organic seal on meats assure that it comes from animals that have NOT been cloned—and that also have not been given growth hormones or fed genetically modified soy or corn. For more about beef labels, including “natural” and “grass-fed,” check out “Beef Labels.”
Do you feel that cloned animal products should have mandatory label requirements? Share your thoughts.
Related Topics: From the Editors
September 16th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Thanks for writing about livestock cloning… FYI you have a couple of errors: there’s no such thing as “cloned food.” Meat and milk is just meat and milk, regardless of whether it comes from an animal produced via cloning, natural mating, IVF, whatever. I think you meant to write “food from cloned animals.”
Also you’re mistaken that Kraft, General Mills, and Gerber/Nestle have pledged not to sell food from the offspring of cloned animals (check the Center for Food Safety site at http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/CloningPR9_3_08.cfm to see for yourself). It’s unlikely that those companies would ever make such a pledge because there’s no way to test an animal to find out whether one of its parents was produced via cloning.
Scientists haven’t been able to find any evidence that cloning affects food safety, so I think this whole cloning-makes-bad-food issue is turning out to be a lot of hype to get people to spend more on organic food products. Bush has spent eight years trying to convince us all to ignore and distrust science, but if Obama wins he’s going to promote science literacy and people will stop believing the “cloning-is-evil” crowd!