Meat from cloned animals could possibly be on grocer’s shelves by next year.

The Food and Drug Administration issued a statement Oct. 31 that said food products derived from animal clones and their offspring are likely to be as safe as food from their non-clone counterparts.

However, the FDA is still deciding if government approval is needed before releasing cloned animals into the food chain. This process is expected to take at least a year.

The average person does not understand that cloning is not a new technology and do not understand how the process of cloning actually occurs, said Curtis Youngs, associate professor in animal science.

“Cloning is a biological process where we make additional, identical copies of what we started with,” Youngs said. “We’ve been cloning in the plant world for centuries. Growing new plants is cloning.”

Youngs said there are other examples of cloning in nature, such as identical twins.

However, cloning does not mean creating a carbon copy because when a new clone is created, a new embryo is created, he said.

The process of creating a new embryo involves placing a donor cell from a genetically valuable animal into an unfertilized egg that has had chromosomes removed. The surrogate mother then carries the fetus until birth, Youngs said.

The real challenge to creating a true carbon copy is putting the donor cell into an egg with the same kind of mitochondrial DNA background as the donor cell because mitochondria can influence the performance of the cloned animal, he said.

Youngs said consumers in the United States may not believe cloned animal products are safe to eat, despite the FDA’s statement. It is very vital to inform consumers bad genes are not being inserted into the animal, he said.

Brian Adams, sophomore in animal science, said he had no problem with the possibility of cloned meat hitting the grocery stores.

“It’s pretty much the same exact thing,” Adams said. “I don’t think it alters the quality.”

Wade Boehm, sophomore in agricultural education, said he is more concerned with the practicality of cloning in the livestock industry than consumer education.

“I don’t know how practical it will be,” Boehm said. “Large-scale producers may be able to maximize their production by the using the best genetic animals, but it will come as a significant cost to the producer.”

Currently, Youngs said the cost of a cloned calf is $19,000. At this price, cattle producers have to look at the economics — only an elite few will consider the technology.

There are two major reasons why cloned cattle are sold for so much money, Youngs said.

“Number one, it’s a huge cost to the producer,” he said. “Number two, only cattle that have special qualities are going to be subjected to the cloning process. This makes them a worthy investment.”

Youngs said as research continues, prices will come down and more opportunities for breeders to make use of the technology will exist.