Australian organic exports to gain boost over cloned meats

Australian organic meat exporters say their business could be bolstered by the US Food and Drug Administration’s recent decision to approve the consumption of food from cloned animals and their offspring.

“The decision has re-ignited a focus on organic — sales of organic beef and dairy products from Australia could be boosted as consumers in the United States search for an alternative source of protein and dairy products,” says Ms Dalene Brook, business development manager of OBE Beef, Australia’s largest organic beef cooperative.

Australia has the largest area of certified organic land in the world (approximately 11.8 million hectares certified to international standards) due to vast areas of rangelands certified for organic cattle and fat land production.

“Australia has some of the highest standards of food safety and traceability in the world protecting its primary industry environment. Australia’s clean and green reputation is highly regarded and a valuable asset for exporters in markets worldwide,” says Brook.

Certified organic is one of the few regulatory systems already in place to guarantee accountability of source in livestock, amid rising consumer concerns that any cloned meat introduced on market will not be labelled accordingly (meat from cloned animals would be identical to a natural source and impossible to identify).

Spokesperson for Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), Damon Whittock says that the company will closely monitor the attitudes of consumers and export markets but that cloned meat was not likely to enter the Australian food chain in the near future.

“Cloned cattle do exist in Australia (there are less than 100), but they are incredibly expensive to produce and used for research purposes. They do not enter the food chain. Food Safety Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) will make the decisions on the safety of cloned beef "¦ and consumer attitudes will ultimately determine whether it will be accepted and hence made commercially viable,” he said.

Biological Farmers of Australia (BLA) spokesperson and Standards Committee chair, Dr Andrew Monk says cloned meat concerns are the latest in a series of proposed food modification techniques that stringent standards for certified organic production offer an alternative to. Reproductive hormones and cloning are prohibited under the Australian Organic Standard.

“With no planned requirement that labels identify cloned animal foods, and with the exemption of labelling of many GM foods, as well as products utilising nanotechnology, organic logos will hold even greater importance for consumers who care about where their food comes from, and how it is produced.”

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