This study was designed to undertake a risk assessment to identify the health status of rats fed with somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)-cloned Korean native beef cattle (Hanwoo) meat for 26 weeks. The rats were randomly divided into 5 groups, each consisting of 12 male (142.6 ± 5.23 g) and 12 female (113.7 ± 6.31 g) rats each. The animals were fed commercial pellets (control), pellets containing 5% (N-5) and 10% (N-10) of normal cattle meat, and diets containing 5% (C-5) and 10% (C-10) of cloned cattle meat. The mortality; clinical signs; body weight; food consumption; urinary, hematology, blood biochemistry, and histopathological analyses; and absolute and relative organ weights were analyzed and compared. During the 26-week test period, health status-related factors of the rats fed on cloned Hanwoo meat were found to have no test substance-related toxicities. The only difference was the increased uterus weight in female C-10 rats as compared to their counterparts counterparts (p < .05). On the basis of these health status results, it can be postulated that no food consumption risks might arise from the long-term feeding of cloned cattle meat in rats.
Keywords: 26-week feeding; cloned Hanwoo meat; health; rat.; risk assessment.