NEW TECH FOODS

Upcoming regulatory changes in Canada will allow meat from cloned animals to enter the Canadian food system without pre-market safety review or mandatory labelling.

According to recent documents from Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), planned revisions to the country’s Novel Foods framework will remove cloned animals from the definition of “novel foods.” As a result, meat derived from cloned animals could be sold in Canada without undergoing a safety assessment or being identified on packaging.

The move stems from a policy review launched in 2023. Health Canada, working with the CFIA and Agriculture and Agri Food Canada, concluded that meat, milk and other foods from cloned cattle and swine are equivalent to conventionally raised meat and safe for consumption.

However, foods from cloned goats and sheep will still be treated as novel and must undergo full pre-market reviews.

In the consultation material, Health Canada stated: “Scientific evidence indicates that foods derived from clones of cattle and swine, and their offspring, do not present greater risks to human health, animal health, or the environment.”

The cloning policy was initially introduced in 2003. The policy classified cloned-animal products under the ‘novel foods’ framework due to limited scientific data at the time.

Producers of cloned animal products under this framework were required to submit detailed safety assessments before cloned-origin products could be approved for sale.

The policy covered cloned cattle and swine that underwent a process known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), the same method used to create Dolly the Sheep, the world’s first cloned mammal.

The policy change was subject to a consultation that began last year.

There has been some criticism from meat producers in the country, with Canadian pork producer duBreton claiming that the lack of disclosure undermines consumer trust.

Vincent Breton, DuBreton’s CEO, said: “The government quietly changing the definition of a novel food means that unless it’s labelled organic, there is no way to distinguish brands that support animal cloning from brands that don’t. People want and deserve to know that.”

DuBreton is urging food brands to adopt voluntary and verifiable labelling to advance transparency and to make it clear whether products are created using cloned meat or traditional farming methods.

Health Canada stated that the policy change decision is science-based, not a rollback of safety standards and that the science available now has advanced since the implementation of the original policy.

The department added that all food sold in Canada, cloned or otherwise, must meet the same health and safety requirements under the Food and Drugs Act.