Gene-altered animals and food safety

PERHAPS you're still getting used to the idea that some of the meat, milk, and cheese you are eating may come from cloned cows or their offspring, a controversial culinary advance that the Food and Drug Administration green-lighted in January after deeming food from clones to be safe. Well, hurry up and swallow, because the next course is on its way.

Largely unnoticed due to the mayhem of the markets and the presidential race, the FDA recently proposed rules that would allow, for the first time, the marketing of foods from genetically engineered farm animals as well. Unlike clones - which are weirdly procreated from a single parent but are otherwise conventional creatures - engineered animals have had their DNA codes rewritten to endow them with traits never before seen in those species.

Read more here.

This article was originally published in The Boston Globe.