An EU preliminary report has found that food from clones is probably safe but highlighted animals' ill health as a cause for concern. On 24 July, an expert committee of the Parma, Italy–based European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) called it “highly unlikely” that milk or meat derived from cloned cattle, pigs or, more importantly, their offspring, will harm food safety. However, the panel said that young clones and their surrogate mothers experience “significant animal health and welfare issues,” and that “uncertainties” remain because fewer than 4,000 such cattle and 500 such pigs were alive worldwide in 2007. The European Commission is not expected to decide on a ban of cloning-derived products until outcomes of a large public opinion poll and an extensive stakeholder consultation have been published. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declared food from clones and their progeny safe in January 2008. FDA assessments cannot include animal welfare, and neither the FDA nor the EFSA can weigh ethical questions. Eurogroup for Animals, a Brussels-based animal welfare group, responded by calling for an immediate EU ban on cloning for food, but European animal breeders argue such a ban would be premature and unenforceable. “We should not deprive breeders of a technique that could one day offer significant opportunities for precision animal breeding,” says Anne-Marie Neeteson, of the European Forum of Farm Animal Breeders, an industry group based in Oosterbeek, The Netherlands.