Due to the total lack of food manufacturer transparency, the only real way to track what goes into your mouth is by watching what the food regulation agencies are talking about. In my reading of the recent news from miscellaneous agencies around the world, I couldn't help this prevailing thought - 'What the heck are they thinking?!'

Strange Things in the Food Supply

The good news is - they are finally going to start tracking cloned livestock. Although the U.S. FDA seems to think cloned livestock is safe, I'm still just a little nervous about the prospect of cloning in our food supply.

Not only is the safety of the food produced in question -

"The FDA issued a draft risk assessment in December 2006 that suggested food from cloned animals presents no serious safety issues. But this was discredited by a March 2007 report by the Center for Food Safety that exposed embarrassing inadequacies in the FDA's review; there are no peer-reviewed safety studies on meat from cloned cows, pigs or goats and only three inconclusive ones on milk. Even the National Academies of Science - the government's science adviser - has said that it's just not possible to adequately assess this foods' safety." - Source: San Francisco Chronicle via Proyecto de Bioseguridad (don't worry, it's half English)

...but you also have to consider whether food producers will make cloning into a multi-billion dollar money making machine, like those horrific factory farms, and completely abuse the privilege of cloning. It's the little words from long sentences that I worry will get overlooked. Such as these words in bold:

"Edible products from healthy clones or their progeny do not appear to pose increased food consumption risks in comparison to comparable products from conventional animals." - Source: A View from the Kitchen

Translated into paranoid health nut speak who is preparing for the worst - the FDA conducted their tests as per usual (i.e. sloppily) and therefore they cannot have a definitive answer nor guarantee that producers will clone only healthy livestock, AND (here's the kicker) they say the produce from clones would be comparable to our already crappy food supply.

Well isn't that just grand? I love it - the FDA has approved multiplication of mediocrity.

Oh yeah, and did I mention the participation in the clone tracking is voluntary? Isn't that just cute. We can't even be sure we're getting real food.