The Food and Drug Administration has announced that food from cloned animals and their offspring is safe to eat and that there’s no need to label cloned foods as such, but the organics industry is saying, “No thanks.”
Industry leaders, such as Organic Valley, Horizon Organics and Stonyfield Farms, have long opposed cloning in food production. According to the regulations of the USDA’s National Organic Program, “Animals produced using cloning technologies are incompatible with Organic Foods Production Act and cannot be considered organic.” This is in keeping with its rule on “excluded methods,” which include “methods used to genetically modify organisms or influence their growth and development by means that are not possible under natural conditions or processes.”
The USDA reports that there are about 600 animal clones in the United States, and that breeding them is expected to come slowly.