Canadians may soon see cloned meat on grocery shelves

While cloned meat may soon be hitting the grocery shelves, Edmontonians are still skeptical of the idea.

“We get meat daily. We get chicken two to three times a week. We get beef in just about every day,” said David Van Leeuwen, owner of Ben’s Meat and Deli, a West Edmonton store  which has sold products from Alberta farms for more than 70 years.

The deli won’t be selling something you might find at other butchers — cloned meat produced in a lab.

“I just don’t personally understand why they want to do it,” Van Leeuwen said. “I guess they want to maybe perfect meat to make it better, make it healthier.”

 “But in my eyes, I don’t like to mess with what’s like – don’t fix what’s not broke,” he added.

Right now, the sale of lab-produced meat is not happening in Canada while feedback from the industry and consumers is being gathered.

 “Do people want to be eating cloned meat? Is this something that we should be moving forward with, and then the second piece is that labelling piece, as you’ve identified,” said Angela Lee, law professor at University of Alberta.

Edmontonians are divided on whether cloned meat will be part of their diet.

 “Personally, I wouldn’t do it. I don’t really agree with that kind of stuff. I think you should know natural meat, natural vegetables,” said Liam Farbrother.

 But Darcy Watsham is more open to the idea, “I suppose I just don’t see an issue with it … at the end of the day. It’s just food.”

Experts say there are some benefits in going the hi-tech route for meat.

 “A couple of reasons why you know you just want to make more of one animal that has a really high genetic value,” said Carolyn Fitzsimmons, research scientist, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. “It would also improve the number of offspring of a gene-edited animal.”

Costs may be one more reason you won’t see it in your local food shop soon as lab-grown meat can cost up to $15,000 to $20,000 compared to naturally bred meat.

 “I don’t think there’s a need for it, and I think customers trust that I’m buying local, that I’m buying good quality, that there’s no need for it,” Van Leeuwen said.

Edmontonian Jacq Lakusta agreed with Van Leeuwen, “It’s a really wild novel concept to me, so I don’t think I could get on board with that just yet.”

It is still a wait-and-see stage on what Health Canada’s decision on selling cloned meat will be.

But Lee is looking to see more transparency in the food industry, like labelled packages and proper safety review from the agency.