CLONING TECHNOLOGY-WILL IT BE VIABLE?

According to the FAO estimates, present food production needs to be doubled by 2050 if the population at that time is to be fed adequately. How this can be achieved with severe limitations on land, water and other inputs is hot subject of intensive speculation at present. Experts feel that 70% of the increased production must come through efficiency improving technologies. Added to this worry is the unexpected resistance from environmentalists and consumer groups to accept genetically improved crops through the biotech route. Cloning technology by Somatic Cells Nuclear transfer is being touted as one of the best options for increased production of animal foods like beef and milk, though success rate is hardly 15% which must go up to 60% if this option is to be considered viable.

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2008 approved the sale of food from clones and their offspring, stating the products are indistinguishable from that of their non-clone counterparts. Japan, the European Union, and others have followed suit. The moves have stirred controversy about whether tinkering with nature is safe, or even ethical, prompting major food companies to swear off food products from cloned animals. But consumers are likely already eating meat and drinking milk from the offspring of clones, which are technically not clones, without even knowing it. Farmers can now use cloning and other assisted breeding technologies to breed cows that produce bigger, better steaks or massive amounts of milk, and animals that resist diseases or reproduce with clockwork precision. Premier genes can translate to improved feeding efficiency, meaning the ability to convert the least amount of feed into the most meat or milk, which results in a smaller environmental footprint".

The approval accorded for foods from cloned animals last year in the US has spurred others like Japan, EU and a few more countries to declare that this is a safe practice. Whether cloning will ever be commercially viable, considering the cost of cloning a cow to day being $ 15000, remains to be seen. The uncertain results of cloning efforts with high failure rates also may prove to be a damper for wide scale adoption.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

CHICKEN WASTE AND CATTLE FEED-POTENTIAL DANGERS

Alarm bells are ringing for the beef industry after the sensational revelation about the prevalent practice of feeding cows with poultry industry waste. Though this is not a new development as such a practice was going on for ages, putting it in focus by consumer groups, gives it a different dimension. During olden days rural farms had dairying, meat animals, poultry birds, pig rearing, fish ponds etc making them self reliant in terms of most of the inputs for running the farm. Only recently such practices are being frowned upon because of its impact on safety of the foods coming out of such farms. Probably the avian flu, swine flu, mad cow disease and others which are constant threats to the organized animal farms are making the industry doubly careful about their operations.

"Farmers feed 1 million to 2 million tons of poultry litter to their cattle annually, according to FDA estimates. Using the litter -- which include feces, spilled chicken feed, feathers and poultry farm detritus -- increases the risk of cows becoming infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. That's because the spilled chicken feed and the feces contain tissue from ruminants -- cows and sheep, among other mammals. The disease is transmitted through feeding ruminant remains to cattle. It takes a very small quantity of ruminant protein, even just 1 milligram, to cause an infection,"

Whether the food safety authorities will be convinced about need for putting in place a ban on use of poultry litter as part of the feeding regime for beef animals, which are processed into various consumer products, remains to be seen. Mad cow disease is not known to cause any safety problem, though many cows were destroyed during the peak season of this disease. Such a ban may affect the economics of meat production to some extent because new feed sources may be more expensive than poultry litter. How ever, if it poses real threat in terms of safety, restrictive action is inevitable..

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com