Beating the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to the draw, the European Food Safety Authority became the first major scientific assessment body to declare cloned meat fit for human consumption. The EFSA issued a draft opinion that cloned pork, beef, lamb and chicken were equally as nutritious and healthy to eat as meat from natural-born animals.

Before the end of December, there were reports the U.S. FDA is set to issue its own conclusions, which are similar to the EFSA findings. However, the FDA has not yet formally issued a statement on the matter

Scientists have moved a step closer to winning the battle against one of the most common human parasites, Toxoplasma gondii. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that the parasite uses a hormone from the plant world to decide when to grow and when to remain dormant.

Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite found in a variety of places. That includes contaminated kitchen surfaces or utensils that have come in contact with raw meat, drinking contaminated water, dirt in people's yards and the feces of cats that are infected and, more rarely, an infected organ transplant or blood transfusion

A four-year-old boy became the latest casualty of bird flu in Vietnam, bringing to five the number of people to have died from the avian virus this year in the region, health ministry officials in Vietnam confirmed Thursday.

Tran Hung, Vietnam's health ministry administrative office director said, "He tested positive to the H5N1 virus late last week. It is the first human case of H5N1 in about four months in Vietnam

The Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO) has launched a tracking system that allows food companies to track cloned livestock throughout the food processing chain.

The system was launched Wednesday a year after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a draft risk assessment that meat and milk from cloned animals were safe for human consumption

The Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute released Tuesday a report warning of rising food prices as more developing nations opt for processed food over staple crops. Aside from the changing food preference, key factors in the expected jump of food prices are climate change, globalization and increased urbanization in major Asian nations like India and China.

Joachim Von Braun, lead author of the report, said, "Food prices have been steadily decreasing since the green revolution, but the days of falling food prices may be over