FSA News Item, 13 May 2011

CLONING - Board update on clones and offspring

A copy of the Board Paper is available on this site. See: FSA 11/05/07 - Animal Cloning for Food Production

Following a stakeholder consultation, the Agency will be updating the next meeting of the Board on animal cloning and the FSA’s decision to change its advice on the legal status of food from the descendants of cloned cattle and pigs.

Until now, the Agency has advised that authorisation was required from the FSA before meat or milk from a clone or its descendants could be sold to consumers. At its meeting in December 2010 the Board concluded that, based on the current evidence and on advice from the European Food Safety Authority and the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes, there are no food safety grounds for regulating foods from the descendants of cloned cattle and pigs.

Since then, the Agency has sought the views of stakeholders and will confirm to the Board that the interpretation of the Novel Foods Regulation does not apply to the immediate offspring and further descendants of cloned cattle and pigs. Cloned cattle and pigs are still within the scope of the legislation and before any foods from cloned cattle or pigs are sold, pre-market authorisation would have to be granted by the Agency. This change in the Agency’s advice brings it into line with the position of the European Commission. The Board paper for the meeting is at the link below.

Background

The FSA Board agreed at its meeting in December 2010 to advise Ministers that:

• the marketing of products obtained from cloned animals should be subject to the same authorisation as novel foods
• based on the current evidence, there are no food safety grounds for regulating foods from the descendants of cloned cattle and pigs
• the FSA is minded to adopt the position taken by the European Commission and others, that food obtained from the descendants of clones of cattle and pigs does not require authorisation under the novel foods regulation
• the Board will seek the views of interested parties in relation to this change of position, and will return to this matter in the future if new information makes this necessary

See also related news item:

• 13 January 2011 CLONING - Views sought on 'novel' status of food from descendants of cloned cattle and pigs