As I stepped into the small family-owned butcher shop in Vancouver’s East End, the third-generation owner, Martin Fleischer, carefully wrapped a cut of beef in brown paper. “My customers trust that I know exactly where this meat comes from,” he told me, his hands moving with practiced precision. “But honestly, even I can’t be 100% certain anymore about what’s happening further up the supply chain.”
What Martin was alluding to might surprise many Canadians: meat from cloned animals or their offspring may already be on our dinner plates, and there’s no way for consumers or even retailers to know for certain.
In 2010, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency quietly determined that meat and milk from cloned animals didn’t require special labels or regulatory approval. They classified these products as “novel foods” but exempted them from the review process typically required for such foods. The decision effectively opened Canada’s doors to cloned animal products without any tracking mechanisms or consumer notification.
“The regulatory approach is essentially ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,'” explains Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, Senior Director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. “Canadian authorities determined that cloned animal products are substantially equivalent to conventional ones, but without mandatory labeling, consumers have been left completely in the dark about whether these products are actually entering our food system.”
The science of animal cloning involves creating a genetic copy of an animal using a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer – the same technique used to create Dolly the sheep in 1996, the world’s first cloned mammal. Today, livestock cloning typically targets prize animals with desirable traits like faster growth rates or higher milk production.
When I visited Emily Warren’s dairy farm in the Fraser Valley last month, she expressed frustration with the regulatory situation. “Farmers like me who maintain traditional breeding programs face increasing pressure to compete on efficiency. Meanwhile, we have no idea if some producers are using cloned animals or their offspring, which could provide them significant economic advantages.”
Health Canada maintains that meat and milk from cloned animals pose no safety risks to consumers. A 2008 review by the European Food Safety Authority similarly concluded that food from cloned cattle and pigs is just as safe as food from conventionally bred animals. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reached the same conclusion that year.
But safety isn’t the only concern. A 2023 survey by the Consumers Council of Canada found that 76% of Canadians believe they have the right to know if their food comes from cloned animals, regardless of safety assessments. The survey revealed significant ethical and animal welfare concerns among respondents.
“There’s a fundamental question about consumer autonomy at stake,” says Dr. Melissa Denecke, a bioethicist at the University of British Columbia. “Even if regulatory bodies deem a food safe, many consumers want to make informed choices based on their own values about how their food is produced.”
The cloning process itself raises animal welfare issues. Cloned animals experience higher rates of birth defects, health problems, and premature death than conventionally bred animals. A 2016 study published in the Canadian Veterinary Journal documented higher rates of respiratory problems and immune deficiencies in cloned cattle compared to their conventional counterparts.
While direct cloning for food production remains relatively expensive, a more likely scenario involves using cloned animals as breeding stock. This means the offspring of cloned animals – not the clones themselves – would primarily enter the food supply. Under current regulations, these offspring require no special tracking or labeling.
When I reached out to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for clarification on whether any monitoring of cloned animals in the food supply exists, spokesperson James Williams stated: “Current regulatory frameworks do not require producers to disclose the use of cloning technologies in breeding programs, nor do they mandate tracking of descendants from cloned animals in the food supply.”
The absence of tracking systems has created a peculiar situation where regulators themselves cannot definitively state whether Canadians are consuming products derived from cloned animals. This knowledge gap extends throughout the supply chain.
Last week, I spoke with procurement managers at three major Canadian grocery chains. All confirmed they have no mechanisms to identify whether meat products might originate from cloned animals or their offspring. Two declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the topic.
This regulatory approach stands in contrast to the European Union, which has effectively banned cloned animals from the food supply and requires any food products derived from cloning technologies to undergo rigorous approval processes and carry clear labeling.
For Martin Fleischer at his Vancouver butcher shop, the situation represents a broader disconnect between consumers and food production. “People want transparency. When a customer asks me where this beef comes from, they’re not just asking about geography. They want to know how it was raised, what it ate, and yes, how it came into this world.”
As I left his shop, a customer was examining a roast, asking detailed questions about its origin. Martin answered honestly about the farm it came from and the farming practices he knew about. What he couldn’t tell her – what no one in Canada can currently tell consumers with certainty – is whether that animal’s lineage traces back to a laboratory rather than conventional breeding.
Until regulations change to require disclosure and tracking, Canadians will continue dining in the dark when it comes to cloned meat on their plates.
