Holy cow! Have you perhaps eaten a clone?

Cloning is a marvel of scientific ability but would you want to include milk from cloned cows in your diet? While there is no proven wellness risk from drinking such products, you may still not fancy the idea, or have ethical problems with consuming cloned products, but chances are you may have done just that.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) launched an investigation due to claims that milk from offspring of cloned cows was sold in the UK. However, the investigation took a turn for the worse as it was uncovered that meat from cloned cows has been eaten in the UK, as it has entered the food chain.

Whilst the FSA assures the public that there is no proven risk to their wellbeing from consuming products from healthy clones, or their offspring, in terms of food safety, meat and products from cloned animals have not been approved for sale, as they were considered ‘novel foods’ and were not authorised to go on the market, hence the investigation.

According to the Food Standards Agency, the investigation has been far-reaching and has involved farming organisations, the dairy industry, local authorities and breed associations. The FSA traced two bulls born in the UK from embryos from a cloned cow in the US. The first, called Dundee Paratrooper, was born in December 2006 and was slaughtered in July 2009, with its meat entering the food chain and eaten. However, the other bull, Dundee Perfect, born in March 2007, was slaughtered more recently on 27 July 2010 and meat from this animal has been prevented from entering the food chain.

In terms of milk production, the FSA is continuing to trace the offspring of clones that have supposedly produced milk for the UK dairy industry. They cannot yet confirm that milk from specific animals has entered the food chain, but the Agency has traced a single animal, Dundee Paradise, which is believed to be part of a dairy herd.

In the meantime, the Food Standards Agency is reminding farmers and food businesses about their responsibility to ensure food they produce complies with the law, and that they could be punished with a penalty for failing to comply with the Novel Foods Regulations, which is a fine of up to £5,000.