What is Cloned Meat?

What is cloned meat?

Cloned meat refers to meat that comes from animals created through a scientific technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). This process produces a genetically identical copy or “clone” of an animal with desirable traits such as strong genetics, high meat quality, or superior performance.

In the SCNT cloning process, a cell is taken from a donor animal and its DNA is transferred into an egg cell from another animal. That egg develops into an embryo, which is then implanted into a surrogate mother. The resulting calf or piglet is a genetic twin of the original donor animal.

Although cloning creates full, living animals, the clones themselves are rarely used for meat. Instead, they are typically raised to adulthood and used for breeding purposes. Their naturally born offspring — which are conceived and raised like any other livestock — are the animals that may eventually enter the food supply.

This distinction is important: when people refer to “cloned meat,” they are almost always referring to the offspring of cloned animals, not lab-grown meat and not the cloned animals themselves.

Because cloning is extremely expensive and highly specialized, it is used by certain breeding programs in other countries, but it is not used by Ontario farmers and is not part of traditional Canadian livestock farming.