From LA Times:

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Meat and milk from cloned animals and their offspring are as safe as the natural versions, the Food and Drug Administration declared Tuesday, clearing the way for such products to enter the food supply without special labeling. In releasing its 968-page final risk assessment on the safety of cloning technology, the FDA asked producers to continue keeping cloned cattle, pigs and goats out of the food supply during a transition period of unspecified length. But the federal agency said that products from the offspring of clones could be sold to the public immediately.”Meat and milk from clones of cattle, swine and goats and their offspring are as safe to eat as food from conventionally bred animals,” said Randall Lutter, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for policy. Government scientists said they did not have enough information on cloned sheep or other species to rule that they were safe to eat.Initially, only a small amount of steaks, pork and dairy products derived from clones will become available in grocery stores, industry executives said. But over the next three to five years — after ranchers have time to clone their most prized animals and those clones are able to breed — the products will become routine on store shelves, they said.—

This has sparked plenty of warranted outrage, even though it will take 3-5 years for the cloned meat to reach our supermarkets. The fact that they can’t even put “cloned” on the labeling is not as bad as it sounds, because there will be plenty of labeling that counter-punches with “clone-free.” There are many people who either can’t afford good meat and milk, and this will help them. We are, however, going to come to a point when the line of authenticity will be blurred, and cloned food gets mislabeled, I’m sure. We just don’t know the long term effects of clones entering the gene pool, and that’s what scares most people, I think.