Cloned meat 'could pose food hygiene risk'

The importation of cloned meat could pose a food hygiene risk for Brits as there is no way to differentiate between cloned and natural products at present, it has been claimed.

Professor of animal development at Nottingham University Keith Campbell said there is presently a high probability that milk and meat from cloned animals is making its way on to the shelves of stores in this country, especially as cloned animals are being used as breeding stock in both North and South America.

He commented: "The thing is that we have no way of actually differentiating that meat. It is identical to the offspring of uncloned animals."

The Food Standards Agency recently announced it has commissioned a new large-scale round of research into food hygiene in the UK.

The studies will look at areas like the effects of processing pesticide residues on foods, the problem of norovirus in shellfish, as well as looking at listeria monocytogenes and other microorganisms in pre-packed ready-to-eat sliced meats.