Japan, heavily dependent on food imports, will make its own checks on the safety of cloned animals as food, deemed safe by US regulators, but it is in no hurry to start, a government official said on Wednesday.
Authorities in South Korea and Taiwan also said they would study the issue, although they believe it will be years before the United States is ready to export food from cloned animals. The US government ruled on Tuesday that food from cloned cattle, hogs and goats and their offspring is as safe as other food, opening the door to bringing meat and milk from cloned animals into the food supply.
The final risk assessment by the US Food and Drug Administration confirmed preliminary findings from 2006. A Japanese Agriculture Ministry official, who declined to be named, said the ministry would first have to gather information. "We will have to review the issue, starting by collecting all the available information from the United States," he said.
The ministry will act with other relevant Japanese authorities, he said, although nothing specific was planned so far. "At this point, I don't think the situation calls for any quick action," he said. US industry sources say it could take four or five years before consumers are able to buy clone-derived food on a wide scale as animals are cloned, mature and give birth to progeny used for food.