For Minister Lollobrigida, synthetic meat is a plot by Bill Gates

“There is someone who pays so that the critical issues of these products are not talked about”, says the minister speaking of food biotechnology. “It’s not progress, it’s the new barbarians who want to destroy our model of civilization”. A position in perfect Coldiretti line

If synthetic meat is like Frankenstein, food biotechnology companies are the new barbarians who want to destroy our model of civilization. The words are of Francesco Lollobrigida, new Minister of Food Sovereignty who seems to have brought the logic of “noncielodicono” to Via XX Settembre. “I have seen the pictures of the products sold in Israel, they only let you taste it if you sign a release form because no one is able to tell you if in a few years they will make you sick,” he told Thursday evening. Door to door, “but there is someone who pays because we don’t talk about it”. Who? The answer was given by the minister himself shortly after. “Big pharmaceutical companies, big news players and Bill Gates finance these projects. They have huge resources and they say it’s good for you”, but “whatever people say, health is not guaranteed by these products”. Now, given that no one blames the minister if he prefers a natural (indeed) a synthetic steak, what clashes with his institutional role are the tones of a conspiracy rally and the denial of any scientific evidence. Because his position appears prejudicial, an ideological battle that rides fears. Not only those of suspicious consumers, but also of farmers. Large and small companies that fear competition instead of looking at food biotechnology as a complementary business and perhaps necessary to continue feeding the inhabitants of the planet. It is no coincidence that Coldiretti is one of the main interlocutors of the Ministry of Food Sovereignty. Lollobrigida has openly joined some battles of the association, including the one against synthetic meat. But the ministry’s agenda should follow the country’s priorities and not the demands of a lobby. It is not with magical thinking that the made in Italy is protected.