The farmers at the centre of a major row over the illegal sale of meat from cloned cows are "totally" flabbergasted by the controversy, the family told the Guardian today.
Dulsie Innes, the wife of Callum Innes, who runs a large herd of Holstein cattle near Nairn in north-east Scotland, confirmed the family had bought two bulls bred from a cloned cow in February 2008 and were aware they came from a clone.
But she insisted they had fully complied with all the regulations. Both were given their animal "passports" under European food safety and traceability regulations, while all the calves they produced had been registered as pedigrees with the breeders organisation Holstein UK.
Mrs Innes said the family was being "fully compliant" with a new investigation into claims they animals breached UK food safety rules.
It is believed the two bulls have sired 96 pedigree calves for their herd, which is Scotland's largest herd of Holstein cattle. One of the bulls was slaughtered last year and its meat sold to the public. Mr Innes and Highland Council are investigating the bulls' history.
The Food Standards Agency claims this breaches food safety laws – a ruling disputed by the European Commission – and last week the agency blocked the sale of meat from the second bull, which had just been slaughtered.
Mrs Innes refused to comment in detail about the controversy but confirmed there were other cattle from the same cloned cows still on the farm, but said none were near milking age.
In the family's first interview since the controversy erupted, she said: "There were two bulls in February 2008 and we investigated whether it was legal at the time and understood there was no issue, and we have been fully compliant with the authorities' wishes and are co-operating with them at the moment". The Guardian
