Big Food Producers Promise No Cloned Meat

Via Steve Bjerklie of MeatPoultry.com, I see that 20 major food companies, including giants Kraft Foods, General Mills and Nestle, have apparently pledged not to sell food containing cloned meat. The companies appear to have struck this pact with a Washington, D.C., nonprofit called the Center for Food Safety, which announced the news in its own press release.

While the FDA has concluded that cloned meat poses no danger to human health, consumers have been skeptical of the idea, and that’s what seems to be driving this decision by the companies who signed the pact.

From the MeatPoultry.com story:

[Center official Lisa Bunin] said Smithfield [Foods], Kraft and the others — the list includes Ben & Jerry’s, Hain Celestial, and California Pizza Kitchen but also some surprises such as Campbell Soup, Gerber/Nestlé, General Mills and Albertson’s Stores, among others — are responding to consumer demand. “Consumer preferences are driving food safety issues now, and cloned animals is an example of that,” she said….

In a letter to the Center, Kraft Foods stated that although it will defer to the conclusions of FDA on the safety of ingredients from cloned animals, “product safety is not the only factor we consider in our products. We must also carefully consider additional factors such as consumer benefits and acceptance… and research in the U.S. indicates that consumers are currently not receptive to ingredients from cloned animals.”