The Italian government has passed a bill banning synthetic foods such as lab-grown meat.
The Italian government has passed a bill banning synthetic foods such as lab-grown meat.
If the bill approved by the Council of Ministers passes the parliament and becomes law, the production, sale, use and import of food and feed produced in laboratory environment from animal cells will be prohibited. These banned synthetic foods will also include products such as laboratory-produced meat, fish and milk.
Fines between 10 thousand Euros and 60 thousand Euros are foreseen for those who violate the ban.
Francesco Lollobrigida, Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty from the Brothers of Italy party, said that the legal regulation aims to “protect the culture and tradition” of the country.
Lollobrigida also noted that laboratory-produced foods risk increasing unemployment and harming biodiversity. In addition, the minister said, “We see a risk of social injustice in a society where the rich are well-fed and the poor are undernourished.”
Health Minister Orazio Schillaci emphasized that there is not enough scientific research on the effects of synthetic foods. Schillaci stated that the ban decision aims to protect the health of citizens as well as “protect the heritage of our agri-food culture and our nation based on the Mediterranean diet”.
Farmers were against
Agricultural organizations, including Coldiretti, the country’s largest agronomists’ union, were against the production of synthetic food from animal cells in a laboratory environment. Agricultural sector representatives started petitions in this direction, and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also signed the petition.
Coldiretti argued that with the government’s decision to stop synthetic foods, the loss of 580 billion euros in the national agri-food chain will be prevented. Coldiretti distributed meat and dairy products such as salami and cheese to celebrate the government’s decision at the food fair in Parma yesterday.
Those who support the production of synthetic food from cells in the laboratory without killing animals argue that this is a more ethical method that protects both animals and the environment.
Riccardo Magi, leader of the pro-European liberal party More Europe, also criticized the government and said, “Today, they have created a new crime. This time they take their ambitions from synthetic food. Meloni prefers to continue his reckless prohibition rather than research and develop a technology that will allow us to pollute less and kill less living beings.”
In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the sale of chicken meat produced from cell cultures last November. In the European Union, synthetic animal foods such as laboratory-produced meat have not yet been approved.
World heritage application
The “food sovereignty” file was added to the Ministry of Agriculture for the first time by the right-wing coalition government that came to power in October.
At the end of last week, the ministry announced that they had applied for the recognition of Italian cuisine by UNESCO as the intangible heritage of humanity. In this statement, Minister Lollobrigida said, “Our cuisine is our culture, tradition and identity.”
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty had also taken decisions restricting the sale of such products after the European Union approved the union-wide sale of flour obtained from insects such as grasshoppers. With a series of legal regulations announced last week, the use of insect flours in “typical products such as pizza and pasta” was prohibited, and restrictions were placed on the sale of these products.