09 August 2010MILK FROM CLONED COWS / DAIRY CREST STATEMENT

The issue of milk from cloned cows or their offspring is a major concern to our stakeholders. Food safety is of paramount importance to Dairy Crest.

The Food Standards Agency’s interpretation of the law is that milk from clones and their offspring are considered ‘novel foods’ and would therefore need to be authorised before being placed on the market. As the UK authority responsible for accepting novel foodapplications, the Food Standards Agency has not received any applications relating to this issue and no authorisations have been made.

In the absence of authorisation, it is illegal to sell milk from cloned cows or their offspring and Dairy Crest's milk purchasing contract prohibits the supply of milk from these animals. We do not believe that any of our suppliers have breached these requirements but recent events have created a need for additional measures of due diligence.

For the purposes of clarity, we have written to all our milk suppliers to remind them that in the absence of authorisation of novel foods from the Foods Standards Agency it is unlawful to supply milk from cows produced by cloning methods or from the offspring of cloned cows. This would be in breach of the contractual obligations of Dairy Crest’s Milk Producer’s Agreement. All suppliers have been required to sign a declaration that they have not, and will not, supply milk from cloned cows or their offspring.