After the news on the meat from the offspring of a cloned cow entered the UK food chain broke out [1] there have been interesting discussions going on. I have been following some discussion on Facebook. I noticed the buzz in the public domain when my friend updated her status that reads she “is munching on a cloned cow” on the same day when the news broke out. Her status attracted instant comments from her friends which were intriguing to me. Was it because those comments were related to ethics and safety of cloned meat? No, far from it. One Facebook friend was jokingly warning the rest that if we eat cloned meat, “you will give birth to cloned poo”. He ‘convincingly’ went on arguing that this ‘cloned poo’ will be combined with super-bacteria which eventually produce a black hole. In response to this science-fiction-esque comment, another went even further and entertained fellow Facebook friends by presenting an alternative theory: if we eat cloned meat we will turn into a ‘Kung Pow Cow’, the character from YouTube heat comic video clip.

Of course it is not the aim of this polemic to share conspiracy or silly jokes over cloned beef. My friends’ somewhat heavily creative and popular culture referenced reaction intrigued me so much that I did look for more public reactions to this news and lead me to ask thread of questions.

How much are we (not) worried about consuming meat from the offspring of a cloned cow?

What’s the emotional/moral rational we accept or object this particular food product?

Is it solely to do with perceptions of cloned animal/food substances or is it more to do with the fact that food sneaked in cross border without full information?

As someone who was trained in cultural studies, these questions seem to be an important part of discussion when we think about moral/ethical everyday decision-making. Based on quick Facebook ‘research’, given that the news only broke out only few days ago, I found quite a few people still keep the vague position on this and delay to make an instant decision. Some would simply ask questions as a form of status update or posting news coverage on the Facebook page. They asked “is it right to eat cloned meat” or “wow. The Brits are eating cloned cows now?!?!?!”

But similar number of people unreservedly expressed that they do not have any problem with consuming cloned meat. A typical reaction includes “Wants to try some cloned meat.......yummy”. Some wondered if cloned meat has better economic value by saying: “Does that mean you get 2 for the price of 1”. Furthermore, there were some remarks could be found on Facebook that criticises the negative reactions to the cloned meat.

Britain: a nation that gets collectively nauseous about cloned meat but has no problem eating pork scratchings. Or Turkey Twizzlers.

Why's everyone bitching bout cloned bulls in the food chain! I'm game for trying it!!!

However, the other ends of public opinion was much more caution one. On the question of “is it right to eat cloned meat”; an interesting thread of discussion has carried out.

Its a tricky one. i'm not sure i agree with cloning animals or not. not likely to know any side effects from eating the meat for years.

i do not think we should clone animals or anything.

Its a dangerous game they play...one we all could end up paying price for x

There isn't a single cloned animal showing indication of lasting a normal life span, that speaks volumes, not only is long term consequences of eating cloned and genetic engineered foods unknown but the whole concept of cloning is about creating super race eradicating normal ones.

In this short polemic I wanted to share food – maybe not cloned one though – for thought rather than provide readers with a balanced summary of public opinion on the recent cloned meat news. I do not have all the answers for those questions I began this polemic with. However, what is clear is as consuming food is a vital part of human life, issues around food chain and food industry constantly engage us with all sort of ethical and moral questions as the current cloned meat controversy proves. It seems to me that it will be such a shame if we just dismiss popular imaginaries or public concerns around cloned meat as silly or as overreaction.

[1] “Meat of second cloned cow offspring 'in UK food chain'”, BBC News Online, 4 August 2010 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10872780

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	Publics Attitudes and perceptions towards consuming cloned meat.pdf