Europe's top food safety agency has been asked to determine whether meat and milk from cloned animals are safe to eat, European Commission officials said on Thursday.
In a letter sent to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) the same day, the European Union's executive arm asked it to "assess the possible implications of cloning for food safety, animal health, animal welfare and environment in the EU".
If the technology gets a green light from the EFSA - the ruling is due in six months - cloned food products could be in supermarkets across the 27-country bloc by next year.
Many consumer and religious groups strongly oppose cloning, which takes cells from an adult and fuses them with others before implanting them in a surrogate mother. They say scientists lack knowledge of its effects on nutrition and biology.
Advocates of livestock cloning say the technology will help produce more milk and lean, tender meat by creating more disease-resistant animals. They insist it is perfectly safe. The Commission will also ask its ethics committee to give its opinion on the matter.
Commission officials said the move by the EU executive was prompted by a draft ruling from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last December that meat and milk products from cloned cattle, pigs and.