Offal Good

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1. People already don’t know where their meat is coming from, unless they’re chefs, Chef.

   Those of us who do would think that, if anything, the consistent quality control afforded by cloning would lead to more safety for consumers. The only downside, as I see it, is reduced genetic diversity leading to decimation by some disease to which the “parent’ was uniquely susceptible.

   On the other hand, while the initial impact of such a disease would be substantial, once the resistant breeds are identified the recovery would be easier. You can be confident that the entire next generation will be resistant, rather than rolling the dice on what fraction of the next generation will be resistant.

   Comment by Jeff Hunt — January 5, 2008 #

2. Yeah, I can’t believe that cloned meat poses any additional health risk over that of “naturally bred” meat. It sounds like the clones will be used to provide a hereditary line of good stock.

   Good stock will be cloned to provide good stock. That’s being done now with popular “sires”, and artificial insemination. As for reduced genetic diversity, you don’t need cloning to do that. http://www.projects.roslin.ac.uk/cdiv/

   Many “purebred” dog lines have congenital defects from closely breeding lines. All without cloning.

   Comment by james — January 5, 2008 #

3. For people who feel that this subject requires further study before approval, you can email a complaint to the FDA at the address here: [email protected]

   Comment by Amy Finnigan — January 5, 2008 #

4. Well, for starters, I think they’ll first try to come up with a cow that doesn’t harbor E. coli O157:H7 when it’s fed corn, which just seems like a fiddly and wrongheaded way of getting out of a low-cost meat bind they’ve gotten themselves into (rather than feeding cows grass, which they are, y’know, made to eat).

   You put a mid-rare burger from a CAFO stocked entirely with E. coli resistant steer clones, and another from a CAFO stocked as they are today in front of me, and I’ll take the cloneburger any day of the week. My stomach has hydrochloric acid that will do a neat job with any cloned muscle you wanna throw its way, but has a bit of a problem with certain acid-accustomed micro-organisms.

   Comment by Rich — January 5, 2008 #

5. I don’t know that there’s anything inherently wrong with a piece of cloned meat, but I do know that decades of government-promoted scientific manipulation of our food supply have made us fat, cancerous and ignorant about where food comes from.

   The public can have this crap if they’re crazy enough to let this happen. I’ll just keep getting my meat where I know it’s most likely safe - out in nature.

   Comment by Holly — January 19, 2008 #

6. Although I might not be running out to buy cloned meat, from a purely cellular point of view there’s no difference between the original and the cloned protein except for the length of telemerase strands and the long term age potential of the cloned animal.

   In fact, it is far more likely that having cloned stocks of animals will lead to higher quality, safer meat. “Original” animals can be chosen for genetic superiority, ie, animals that are extremely healthy and do not carry any major genetic defects.

   It really isn’t as scary as you might think. The only risk is that entire stocks might at some point be wiped out due to a disease that they are particularly prone to, however, there’s an upside here as well: If one clone catches something bad, the stock handlers would immediately know they have a problem, no reason to wonder if the other animals could become infected.

   I’m cautiously optimistic about cloned meats.

   Also, I love the site!

   Comment by Damon — January 19, 2008 #

7. I don’t really know much about this, and I’m a teenage aspiring chef so I will probably sound really naive, but I agree with chef Cosentino..I don’t really like the idea of cloned meat. The goal of farmers should be to raise the healthiest, best animals as possible which, I believe, means not pumping them up with chemicals and forcing them to eat things they wouldn’t naturally choose. Cloning might not hurt, and it might make get rid of some bacteria, but it’s certainly not natural. I’m currently reading Chefs ‘A Field, which chef Traci Des Jardins collaborated on with other chefs, and she talks about grass-fed beef. I really like her point AND her culinary philosophy. It’s really inspired me. I’m thinking of, if I ever do become a chef, that I’m going to specialize in California cuisine. There’s no farmer’s market in my town (at least not that I am aware of), but when I hear about one, you bet I’m going to be begging my parents to take me ASAP even if it’s just to look around. And close to our house there is a small farm and every day when I’m in the car I see the cows and their cute little calves out feeding and the corn growing (just not right now, it’s winter) and it just makes me smile, and makes me think, “Yeah. That’s where it’s at.” I also watch a lot of David Myers & Jill Davie’s show on Fine Living (Shopping with Chefs) which encourages you to patronize your local farmer’s markets and tells you what to look for in your produce. I like that - it teaches you to do something that’s good for your body, your conscience, and your local economy. So yeah - as I said - cloned meat may not hurt anything, but it’s certainly not natural. I’m more for natural! Sorry if I sound naive, I haven’t really looked into this, but I just wanted to share my opinion.

   Catherine

   P.S. I loooooove this site! I have learned so much!

   Comment by Catherine — January 22, 2008 #

8. Ridiculous.

   If you’ve ever read about cloning, the latest reports still show that these animals are far from healthy. Even if they are cellularly identical, I feel far from comfortable ingesting one.

   If you have ever had the joy of visiting a local farm, and purchasing grass fed beef, not only is it inexpensive, conventient, supporting small farm agriculture, but it is substantially higher quality from anything you’ll buy in a mart. You can taste that cow’s smile. And often, if you have butchered in small town america, you can even have it done humanely.

   More than chefs know where their meat is coming from, Jeff. If they give a fig.

   LOVE LOVE LOVE the site. I’m trying all kinds all crazy things in my kitchen.

   Comment by Summer — January 24, 2008 #

9. Thanks Summer. I agree with you…and I am looking forward so much more to trying everything!!! Tasting the cow’s smile…wow, sounds amazing!!!! I think I might look into this more after all……..
   Catherine

   Comment by Catherine — January 27, 2008 #

10. Chef, I want to say “thank you”, for everything. I truly admire all that you do and all that you are trying to do. I realize that you are a busy man now, and well deserved, but, (always a “but”) I miss your posts! Looking forward to each new thought that you choose to share with all those that admire you.
    Brenda

    Comment by Brenda — January 29, 2008 #

11. Holy Cow!
    I’m a line cook at a large craft-brewery in southern California (one that wouldn’t even use a vendor that carried GM or cloned products)and I don’t see how with the current trends being organic and natural that cloned meat would be very popular or profitable in the food industry as a whole.
    It would be one thing to use this technology to feed the hungry rather than feed capitalism, however we all know that is not the intent. We could use a select few cloned animals as starter herds for under-developed countries and then let the “animals” reproduce naturally(assuming instinct is passed through cloning). This is the same as GM (genetically modified) foods or antidepressants (that’s a different tangent) that are in the marketplace today…there just isn’t enough research.

    It’s like trying to create a Hitler-like meat market(for lack of a better analogy).

    Comment by Sara — January 29, 2008 #

12. While I agree that before I’d consider eating this meat, I’d want a whole lot more research done on it, I don’t think this is anything we have to worry about for some time. The cost to produce a cloned cow is several times the cost to birth and raise one naturally. And let’s face it, as long as it’s cheaper to do it the natural way, that’s the way it will continue to be done.

    Comment by Brian, Baltimore, MD — February 1, 2008 #

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