Chefs say no to cloned meat
2008-02-01 10:14
Milan - If pizza maker Simone Padoan
saw a slab of cloned meat in his local supermarket, the Italian
chef says he would be too scared to bring it into his kitchen.
Despite statements by Europe's food agency and the main US
health agency that cloned food products are safe to eat, Padoan
says he won't be serving them in his pizzeria, but will instead
make dough from natural ingredients and serve natural beer.
"I would be afraid to use it. Maybe (milk from cloned cows)
is healthier than milk that comes from a cow born naturally ...
but all this manipulation scares me," he said.
"At least natural products guarantee a natural aspect -
this is how they are, this is how mother nature made them and I
promote them for that."
Cloning has been around for years. Dolly the cloned sheep
was born in 1996.
But the move by the US Food and Drug Administration this
month to lend its support to meat and milk from cloned animals
and their offspring is likely to mean it will soon enter the
food supply.
Europe's top food safety agency has also said cloned food
products are safe to eat, but has yet to give the green light to
marketing cloned food products to consumers.
Chefs at a culinary forum in Milan with Padoan this week
said no such products would be appearing on their menus.
"I wouldn't consider it with the knowledge I've got now,"
said British chef Heston Blumenthal, famed for his scientific
approach to cooking.
"We don't know if they're damaging or what damage they do
not only to ourselves but also the environment."
Send in the clones...
Many consumer and religious groups strongly oppose cloning,
which takes cells from an adult and fuses them with others
before implanting them in a surrogate mother.
They say scientists do not know enough about its effect on
nutrition and biology.
Advocates of livestock cloning say the technology will help
produce more milk and lean, tender meat by creating more
disease-resistant animals. They insist it is perfectly safe.
Milan chef Carlo Cracco said he would want to know where the
cloned animal had come from and how it had been raised.
"Already we have difficulty with normal products that are
controlled from start to finish. Can you imagine with these new
ones?" he said.
For pastry chef Frederic Bau, using cloned milk in desserts
is not even a consideration: "I don't dare even think about it."
It is believed that it will be years before cloning will be
widely used and despite the official safety approvals, it may be
consumers who determine how widely it is used.
The European Food Safety Authority has opened a consultation
process with member states and industry until February 25 before
giving its final opnion in May.