A long-awaited final report from the Food and Drug Administration concludes that foods from healthy cloned animals and their offspring are as safe as those from ordinary animals, effectively removing the last U.S. regulatory barrier to marketing meat and milk from cloned cattle, pigs and goats.Where's the beef? Over there in the Petri dish!

"over 85 percent of the beef on the market shelves comes from cattle that never set hoof on a ranch or range, but instead spent their entire lives on feedlots. If that factoid is true, then big agribusiness is a greater threat to the rancher than wolves will ever be."

Wagyu (和牛, wagyū?) refers to several breeds of cattle genetically predisposed to intense marbling and to producing a high percentage of oleaginous unsaturated fat. Also known as Kobe-style beef, the meat from Wagyu cattle is known worldwide for its marbling characteristics, increased eating quality through a naturally enhanced flavor, tenderness and juiciness, and thus a high market value. Grocery stores in the United States will sell cuts of American Wagyu for $40/lb to $150/lb (€27,6/kg to €103,5/kg).Because of the Wagyu cattle's genetic predisposition and special diet including beer and sake, wagyu yields a beef that contains a higher percentage of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids than typical beef. The increased marbling also improves the ratio of monounsaturated fats to saturated fats.There are four major breeds of Wagyu (wa means Japanese, and gyū means cattle, or simply "Japanese cow"): Japanese Black, Japanese Brown, Japanese Polled, and Japanese Shorthorn. Japanese breed names include: Tajima, Tottori, Shimane, Kochi and Kumamoto.