Canada Tries Counterfeiting (Cloning) Meat

I’m not sure how much any of you have even thought about buying and eating cloned meat, but I can honestly say that I have spent a sum total of zero time thinking about it. I have never seen it in any of the stores that we shop at, and for good reason. Despite FDA approval under certain conditions, cloned meat remains uncommon in grocery stores due to high costs and public skepticism.

That skepticism is precisely why the Canadian government decided to try and pull a fast one on the public by not labeling the meat as being cloned.

In late October, Health Canada quietly approved the removal of labels from foods derived from Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) clones and their offspring. As a result, Canadians purchasing meat at grocery stores would have no way of knowing whether the meat was produced from cloned animals.

After significant public outcry, Health Canada has indefinitely suspended its plan to allow unlabeled cloned meat in grocery stores. This decision comes after thousands of Canadians, along with prominent figures and industry leaders, condemned the initiative.

“The Government of Canada has received significant input from both consumers and industry about the implications of this potential policy update. The Department has therefore indefinitely paused the policy update to provide time for further discussions and consideration. Until the policy is updated, foods made from cloned cattle and swine will remain subject to the novel food assessment.”

The reason that they would attempt to deceive the public is fairly obvious; there have been some issues with the clones. Then, if you read between the lines, the defense of using the meat contradicts the reasoning.

Numerous researchers have reported significant rates of cloning failure, large offspring syndrome (LOS), placental abnormalities, early mortality, and organ defects in cloned animals. Furthermore, these animals are given substantial doses of antibiotics to combat infections and immune system complications.

Typically, the offspring of cloned animals, rather than the cloned animals themselves, are processed for human consumption. As a result, researchers allege that the health defects and high drug use does not affect the final product.

Like the COVID-19 vaccine, there are currently no comprehensive studies on the effects of consuming cloned meat in humans, so the potential side effects remain unknown.

News of the plan circulated rapidly on social media, prompting thousands of Canadians to condemn it and pledge to switch to local meat providers.

Sylvain Charlebois, a professor at Dalhousie University, posted on X:

“By authorizing the sale of meat from cloned animals without mandatory labeling or a formal public announcement, Health Canada risks repeating a familiar and costly failure in risk communication. Deeply disappointing.”

Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis also issued this warning:

“Health Canada recently decided that meat from cloned animals and their offspring no longer needs a special review or any form of disclosure. That means, soon you could buy beef or pork and have no idea how it was bred. Other countries debate this openly: the EU has considered strict labelling, and even the U.S. has admitted that cloned-offspring meat is circulating.”

“But here in Canada, the public wasn’t even told. This is about informed choice. If government and industry don’t have to tell us when meat comes from cloned animals, then Canadians need to ask a simple, honest question: What else are we not being told?”

DuBreton, a leading North American supplier of organic pork based in Quebec, criticized the move, stating:

“Canadians expect clarity, transparency, and meaningful consultation on issues that directly touch their food supply. As producers, we consider it our responsibility and believe our governing food authorities should too.”

DuBreton conducted a survey and found that 74 percent of Canadians believe that “cloned meat and genetic editing practices have no place in farm and food systems.”

Believing in the safety of cloned foods has not been established, and for Canadian officials to attempt to sneak this into the public forum is a reprehensible move. This proves that these government officials have learned nothing about effectively testing products before using people as guinea pigs.

Going forward, I would trust very little and get in the habit of questioning everything.