January 4, 2008
FDA to Okay Meat, Milk from Clones
The technology is there to clone livestock and now the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is prepared to formally endorse the sale of meat and milk from these animals (and their offspring) for human consumption. The question is whether consumers will be buying when its time to make the sale.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the FDA may give the okay on clones as early as next week. The agency has asked producers not to sell food products from cloned livestock until it had thoroughly studied the safety issue.
There are expected to be protests launched by various consumers groups once the FDA ruling comes down but, ultimately, the producers of cloned animals are faced with winning over consumers and the food manufacturers and retailers who serve them.
Marguerite Copel, vice president of corporate communications at Dean Foods, said, “Most consumers do not find this (food from cloned animals) appealing” and said the company did not plan to sell milk from cloned cows.
The Food Marketing Institute told The Journal that its members expect to be informed by producers if they intend to use cloned animals.
Other food industry groups such as the American Meat Institute (AMI) are more bullish (sorry) about cloned animals, believing that consumers will come around to both appreciate products made from this livestock and seeking it out.
Ultimately, cloned animals will lead to better and healthier cuts of meat for consumers, according to James Hodges, president of AMI. “These animals are not some kind of freaks of nature,” Mr. Hodges told The Journal.
Tyson Foods, one of the largest beef processors, said in a statement that it “currently has no plans to purchase cloned livestock, especially since it will likely be a long time before such animals” are available in the commercial market.
Discussion Questions: Will consumers get over their unease about food and milk from cloned animals like they have when other new food technologies have been introduced in the past? What position should you take if you are a food retailer?
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It seems as if the media have more to say about this than consumers. Cloned products are easy marks for the media. Why doesn’t the media foster an intelligent discussion on this topic? Then consumers can make a choice and “vote” with their purchases.
Monsanto restructured its genetically modified seeds business to focus on foods that most Americans don’t buy directly. It’s easier to sell genetically modified food ingredients (wheat, soybeans, etc.) than the foods most Americans eat without processing (tomatoes, apples, etc.) Meat from cloned animals will be a similar marketing challenge: it will bother a lot of folks, so the easiest path to initial sales success will be marketing it to food processors, not directly to the public. And the backlash against “Frankenfoods” will bolster the all-natural and organic brands, like Whole Foods.
Max is right. The degree of acceptance exists in direct proportion to the amount (and kind) of media coverage.
Rather than “Frankenfood” headlines, informative stories regarding the issues would be more helpful. What are the questions consumers might be asking? What are the consumers’ concerns? Information might make consumers forewarned so that sensational headlines have less affect.
The media will have a field day, obviously, and retailers who do sell such products can expect to be in the middle of a circus. So who wants that? That’ll hold it back awhile, for sure. Likewise, any association or agency that goes on record defending the idea can expect the same. But I’d love to see a survey of consumers on this.
While there will be knee-jerk protests for sure, I don’t think many people know much about this at all yet, at least not enough to make a truly informed decision. And for better or worse, I bet the majority of consumers (not the media, not the activists, but John Q. and Juanita Public) would just yawn — as they do about most things.
While I don’t disagree at all with the general consensus on media influence, I am somewhat surprised to see a general recognition that consumers will know when meat or milk is from a cloned animal. Are they REALLY going to be LABELED? My gut feeling is that if media coverage is reasonable and, heaven forbid, explanatory, consumers will be able to make fair judgments. Having the necessary background information is what counts although there are bound to be those who don’t entirely trust it no matter what they read.