Calf cloned from piece of meat

ERIN McCLAM / AP 26apr02

ATLANTA — Savoring a juicy, high-quality steak? You someday may be able to order a duplicate of the best piece of beef you've ever eaten.

Scientists at the University of Georgia have produced the first calf cloned from cells of a slaughtered cow, a breakthrough they say will allow cattle producers to select and clone the choicest beef.

Researchers yesterday introduced K.C., a female Angus-Hereford cross delivered this week. Her genetic material was extracted from the kidney region of a cow two days after it was killed.

Until now, calves had been cloned only from live adult cows — before the adults were slaughtered and their meat graded. But you can't tell how good a steak will taste until you kill the animal.

Researchers hope their work one day will allow cattle producers to take the best beef from their lines, extract cells from carcasses and use it to stock their herds.

"There are a lot of animals that get processed every day, and there's a select few that are of the highest quality," lead researcher Steven Stice said.

The research was conducted in laboratories at the university in Athens, in conjunction with scientists from ProLinia, an Athens-based biotechnology company.

It will take more study — and approval from the federal government — before the technology could be used for beef for mass consumption.

"It sounds like a good idea to me," said Randall Prather, a University of Missouri cloning expert. "You had 10,000 animals that went through, and you selected the best one."

He cautioned that it would be difficult to guarantee that the quality of the cloned cow would be exactly the same as that of its genetic parent. Differences in feed quality and other environmental factors could cause variations, he said.