FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE UPDATE ON FOOD SAFETY OF ANIMALS DERIVED FROM BIOTECHNOLOGY EXPERIMENTS

Recent progress in the field of biotechnology and the production of tr ansgenic livestock has raised a question regarding the need for the re gulation of these animals. There is also the need to regulate nontrans genic animals resulting from transgenic animal research. It is anticip ated that several governmental agencies will be involved in regulatory issues pertaining to these animals. The United States Department of A griculture (USDA), Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will ulti mately be responsible for ensuring that transgenic animals intended fo r human consumption are wholesome, unadulterated, and properly labeled . The FSIS has implemented a program for the regulation of slaughterin g nontransgenic animals resulting from transgenic animal experiments. However, the FSIS has not yet approved any transgenic livestock for sl aughter. Scientists from the FSIS, in conjunction with other governmen t agencies, are currently developing guidelines for the slaughter of t ransgenic animals.