Recently, a news report by the British media about cloned beef and milk entering the market caused a huge uproar in the UK, and the safety issues of applying high technology to food have attracted widespread public attention.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/en/11249/
Cloned food, organic food, and genetically modified food have successively made their way onto the dining table. It sounds like a plot from a science fiction novel, but with the rapid development of technology, these scenarios have already become reality.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/en/11249/
Can cloned food be eaten?文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/en/11249/
Since the birth of Dolly the sheep, the first cloned sheep, in the UK in 1996, cloning technology has no longer been unfamiliar to us.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/en/11249/
It was not until the UK exposed the news of cloned beef appearing on dining tables that the public became aware of the safety of cloned food.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/en/11249/
Netizen Wenzhu told reporters: “I wouldn't dare eat it. I feel there are many uncertain factors, and there is too much artificial intervention. I don't like it. What if there is some gene mutation and it harms my health?” White-collar worker Peng Jin held the opposite attitude. She told reporters: “If it really exists, I would dare to eat it, just to try something new, but it also depends on what the specific product is.”文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/en/11249/
The attitudes of many netizens and Shenyang residents also reflect the current focus of debate over cloned food: Can it actually be eaten? On this issue, the reporter interviewed Professor Luo Guangbin from the College of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine at Shenyang Agricultural University. Professor Luo told the reporter: “Cloned beef is merely made by extracting a single cell from a cow, using artificial methods to culture it into an embryo, and then implanting the embryo into the uterus of a cow to conceive a new individual. Its genes are the same as those of normal beef; it is simply reproduced asexually and is no different from ordinary beef. As a food, it poses no danger to life.”文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/en/11249/
On the second day after the British media report was broadcast, the reporter made a concentrated visit to large supermarkets in Shenyang such as Tesco and Vanguard, as well as some farmers“ markets, and found that many beef vendors expressed opposition to cloned beef appearing on dining tables. Ms. Zhang, who runs a beef business at a farmers” market near Ningshan Road in Huanggu District, Shenyang, told the reporter: "If there really were cloned beef, I wouldn't stock it, because there is still no news saying cloned beef is problem-free. It is only some experts introducing that it can be eaten. I must be responsible to consumers."文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/en/11249/
During the interviews, the reporter learned that the beef currently sold in major supermarkets in Shenyang all comes from well-known meat enterprises such as Lufeng and Haoyue. When the reporter asked whether cloned beef would be put on shelves if it appeared in China, a staff member decisively told the reporter that they would not do so. According to industry insiders, at present, China's cloned beef and some cloned products are still in the research stage. Only a few scientific research teams are able to carry out cloning, and it will still take time to achieve industrialization and enter the market.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/en/11249/
Regarding the safety of cloned food, China has not yet issued relevant standards. When leaders of relevant departments meet, they mention the issue of standards, but there is still a distance before formal discussion. Some experts have stated: no food safety risks have yet been found in cloned products. As long as the animal itself is healthy, the milk it produces should also be healthy. Zhang Sining, associate researcher at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, believes that since the emergence of cloned beef entering the market in the UK has triggered panic among ordinary people, the government should, through extensive research, introduce relevant supporting regulations as soon as possible to fill the gap in this field.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/en/11249/
[Source: Huashang Morning Post]文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/en/11249/