Miscellaneous Matters - Correspondence -Unprinted written evidence

Food Standards Agency

Richard Cooke

Clerk to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

Committee Office

7 Millbank

London SW1P 3JA

4 October 2010

Regulations regarding the consumption of cloned livestock and their

Descendants

Thank you for your letter of 17 September, which posed a series of questions about

food obtained from cloned animals. I have addressed these below and would be pleased to answer any further questions that the Committee may have.

1. What exact definition are you using to define the offspring of a clone as a novel food, specifically, how many generations must pass before the progeny are considered ‘natural’ and can be sold without a prior safety assessment?

2. Why was this definition chosen?

Food from cloned animals falls under the general definition of "novel food" in the EU Novel Foods Regulation (Regulation (EC) 258/97) which defines novel foods as any foods that have not been consumed in the EU to a significant degree prior to 15 May 1997, and includes foods from animals obtained from non-traditional breeding practices. Cloning is a non traditional breeding practice because it was not used commercially for the breeding of animals for food prior to 1997. Although the wording of the Novel Foods Regulation is not explicit in respect of descendants of non-traditionally bred animals, the Agency interpretation is based on the logic that the descendants of a non-traditionally bred animal, including a cloned animal, would not exist without the use of the cloning procedure, so the descendants should not be regarded as "obtained by traditional propagating or breeding practices".

The new Government is currently reviewing its position on cloning and Ministers have asked their officials to review the interpretation of the Novel Foods Regulation in respect of cloned animals and their offspring.

3. What advice and guidance did you provide to farmers before this incident took place to make them aware of the particular definition of a ‘novel food’ being employed?

Since January 2007, when the issue of livestock cloning first attracted interest in the UK, the Agency has advised that products obtained from the descendants of clones should be regarded as novel foods and therefore require authorisation before they can be marketed. This advice was published on the Agency’s website and was reported at the time in the farming press. Agency officials also discussed the situation with representatives of the main trade associations for the farming and dairy communities.

4. What assessment have you made of the permeation of food products from

cloned animals and their offspring into the British food chain?

Our investigation in August identified and traced 8 animals that were born in the UK as the offspring of a cloned cow, having been imported as embryos from the USA. I attach a report that summarises our investigations. We are not aware of any other clone offspring in the UK. The USA has called for a voluntary moratorium on the entry of cloned animals themselves into the food chain and we understand that the US industry has established tracing systems to implement this. We have no information about the quantity of imported products that might be derived from the offspring of clones.

5. What assessment have you made of the impact and feasibility of a ban on the sale of food products from the first generation offspring of clones?

The Board of the Food Standards Agency discussed food from cloned animals

and their offspring at its open meeting on 15 September. One of its conclusions was that the Agency should not attempt to regulate any process or practice which cannot be traced or measured to an acceptable level of confidence. In this case it would be disproportionate to try to establish a monitoring process (whose purpose would be to ensure the safest possible food), where there is no discernible risk and with the knowledge that it would only be feasible for a very small proportion of the market. In the absence of traceability, the only other option would be a ban which would be entirely inappropriate given the current evidence of risk to human health.

6. What is the Agency’s view on the animal welfare implications of livestock

cloning?

At its meeting on 15 September the Board of the Food Standards Agency also discussed consumer concerns about cloning, which include animal welfare concerns. Responsibility for animal welfare issues lies with the agriculture departments. The FSA Board concluded that the Agency should advise agriculture Ministers of the need to commission the appropriate bodies to investigate further the ethical and welfare concerns that have been an important feature of consumer concerns. The Agency would be keen to be involved in any consumer dialogue that this may entail.

Yours sincerely,

Tim J Smith

ANNEX

Action by Agency

Using information from the national Cattle Tracing Scheme, the Agency traced

animals born in the UK from eight embryos that had been produced by a cloned cow in the US. Four of these were male calves and four were female. All were Holstein animals, a breed mainly used for dairy production. Two of these calves, one male and one female, died at about one month old. No

meat or products from these young animals entered the food chain and their

carcases were disposed of. Of the remaining three males and three female calves:

• Meat from one bull, Dundee Paratrooper, slaughtered in 2009, was sold to

consumers via four butchers’ premises in Scotland and a single butcher’s

shop in north east England. Meat from this animal will have been eaten as it

was sold as fresh meat.

• Meat from a second bull, Dundee Parable, slaughtered on 5 May 2010 was

sent to a meat processor in Belgium. The Agency has informed its equivalent

in Belgium of this. The Belgium authorities subsequently decided there was

no action required to be taken in this instance.

• The third bull, Dundee Perfect was slaughtered on 27 July 2010 and its meat

was prevented from entering the food chain and subsequently destroyed in

accordance with the animal by-product Regulations.

• For the three dairy cows, the Agency has received written assurances that the farmers involved did not place milk from these animals into the food chain.

The milk from these animals was disposed and continues to be disposed of in

slurry on the individual farms. As part of this investigation, the Agency has also established that five of the eight animals are known to have had offspring. All of this next generation is too young to be milked or to be used for breeding purposes. However, one animal, a male calf of

less than a month old, was slaughtered on 16 June 2010 and meat from this animal entered the food chain. The meat was sold in a butcher’s shop in London and will have been consumed.

Summary of Investigation

In summary, the Agency has established that, in total, meat from three animals has entered the food chain without authorisation under the Novel Food Regulations. The meat that did enter the food chain underwent full inspection at the abattoirs in which they were slaughtered and found to meet the requirements of the relevant hygiene legislation (Reg 853/2004).