Meat + Poultry - October 2005 - 20

Cloned

LIVESTOCK
Is the processing industry ready?
By Joel Crews
jcrews@sosland.com

L

ivestock cloning and whether
meat from cloned animals is
safe is a hot-button issue. If the
Food and Drug Administration comes
out with its long awaited risk assessment on the topic and determines that
food derived from the offspring of
clones is safe, the pork and beef processing business stands to gain plenty.
Any windfall is contingent on several
factors that are tough to predict. Obviously, processors would welcome
the advent of consistent carcass sizes,
premium meat quality and predictable
yields. That part is a no-brainer. But
are processors ready to deal with interest groups anxious to tell anyone who
will listen that the technology is a blatant ethics violation? Are they willing
to address claims that the technology
is cruel to the animals and may foster
new and unknown pathogen risks? The
industry would also have to be ready
to deal with the competitive fallout. If
every processor is afforded the chance
to sell the highest quality and yield
product, how could one company distinguish itself from the next?
Most processing companies avoid
discussing any involvement in the
technology, likely fearing the backlash
of judgmental customers and perhaps
the ire of misguided animal activists.
F.D.A. officials say they aren't currently
granting interviews on the subject. Even
executives with meat industry trade
groups avoid any speculation on the
topic but admit to monitoring the regu22

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October 2005

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latory status of the technology closely.
Since 2003, F.D.A. has promised to
publish its findings about the safety of
meat and milk products from cloned
animals. Scientists say the technology
is proven safe and that it is merely the
next generation of reproduction innovations. They contend the only hold
up is F.D.A.
In an e-mail sent to M&P about the
agency's no-interview policy on the
topic, Jon Scheid, F.D.A. spokesman,
wrote, "The most recent information
we have about animal cloning is on our
Web site. We have not added any new
information since November 2003,
when we posted the draft Executive
Summary of the draft Risk Assessment. We hope to release the complete
draft risk assessment and proposed risk
management measures on the animal
and food safety aspects of animal
clones and their progeny soon."
The question on everyone's mind
is: How soon? "We cannot provide a
timeline on when this might happen,
because the issues involved in animal
cloning are complex and the issue
involves programs in several departments," Scheid wrote.
Just four days before his resignation
last month, during a presentation at the
National Food Policy Conference, thenF.D.A. Commissioner Lester Crawford
said that when it came to considering
the cloning issue, "F.D.A. looks simply
at safety." He said that the agency plans
to soon publish a paper in a scientific

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Meat + Poultry - October 2005

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