Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on the sale of meat and milk from cloned animals.

Jane Ellison

The sale in the European Union of meat and milk from cloned animals is subject to risk assessment under the EU Novel Foods Regulation. These Regulations are currently being revised and have been discussed at a European Council Working Group level, where the Food Standards Agency represents the United Kingdom. The European Parliament has now voted in favour of maintaining the risk assessment of products from cloned animals under the Novel Food Regulations, and the Council is expected to be asked for its formal view shortly.

The European Commission has put forward separate and more specific proposals on the cloning of farm animals and the food derived from them. The discussions on these proposals have yet to gain momentum.

There is currently no authorisation for any meat or milk from cloned animals to be in the UK food chain.