UT professor doubts cloned meat will sell soon in stores
"The risk assessment concludes the meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones are as safe to eat as the food we eat every day," said FDA Deputy Commissioner Dr. Randall Lutter in a press conference.
KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- In the future, the meat and milk you buy at the grocery store may come from cloned animals. But a UT professor doubts that will happen soon.
The Food and Drug Administration gave cloned food its stamp of approval on Tuesday.
"The risk assessment concludes the meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones are as safe to eat as the food we eat every day," said FDA Deputy Commissioner Dr. Randall Lutter in a press conference.
Dr. Dwight Loveday, an associate professor of meat science at the University of Tennessee, says he's not surprised by what the FDA said.
But Loveday says he'll be surprised if we see cloned meat in the stores anytime soon. "I think the science is better, but I don't think we are going to see it in our food supply to any great extent and the reason why is the cost."
Dr. Loveday says cloning animals is downright expensive.
But that's not the only reason why he thinks you won't be able to buy cloned meat anytime soon. "It's new science, something we are not familiar with, comfortable with."
Loveday also doesn't think the day will come when everyone will be willing to fill a bun with a cloned burger or hotdog.
"I think there will always be some skepticism with it. We've seen this with other new technologies like the radiation of foods. Obviously it works from a food safety standpoint, but it's not a generally accepted technology."
While Dr. Loveday doesn't see cloned meat replacing cold cuts, he does see it as a way to make them better. "It would be a more rapid way of getting to that ideal meat animal or ideal food product down the line."
Loveday says he can imagine cloning the animals with the best meat and milk and putting their offspring into the food market.
There are about 600 cloned animals currently in the U.S. Most are expected to be used for breeding so it could be years before meat and milk from their offspring gets on store shelves.
But when it does, it won't be labeled as having come from a cloned animal and that's not sitting well with consumers.
People who spoke to 6 News Tuesday at Doan's Market and Deli say they're wary about the technology.
"When you are messing with genetics and everything like that, it's kind of scary to me right off the bat. It would just have to be proven for me to eat it," Joe Doan says.
"I would never eat it because we are not God and I am tired of scientists playing with things that they have no idea what they are doing in the long run," Mary Ellis says.
Some worry about the safety of the meat because cloned animals tend to be sicker and have shorter life spans.
Several large food companies have already said they won't sell meat from cloned animals because of consumer anxiety about the technology.
But the FDA says after years of studies, it hasn't' found any safety concerns because the cloned animals are virtually indistinguishable from their naturally-bred counterparts.
ok, this is me i will never consume or buy or try cloned meat, i don't care if all the scientist and doctors on earth say its ok to eat i don't care if everybody eats, i don't care if they make it so cheap to buy so later they can raise the price.
why? i just don't think its right its unnatural or u can call it unanimal.
what do u guys think about eating cloned meat? would dare to try it? do you think they ganna label it as cloned?
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Originally Posted by Jfew44
