“Synthetic meat? The government is right to defend agriculture»- Corriere.it

«The EU has a directive dating back to 1996 which prohibits the consumption of meat produced using hormones. So I don’t see how it is possible to hypothesize that the European legislator authorizes the human consumption of laboratory-produced meat”. Paolo De Castro, former Minister of Agricultural Policies and MEP of the Democratic Party, a point of reference in Brussels for Italian agri-food companies, intervenes on the debate that has ignited following the draft law of the Italian government which prohibits the production, marketing and importation of synthetic foods (in particular meat, fish, milk and artificial feed for animals).

Do you agree with the government measure?
«I think it had the merit of having opened the debate on such a delicate issue as the relationship between food and nature. Apart from the bans and the rest, which will be issues to be addressed at a European level, given the current EU ban on the consumption of meat with hormones, as shown by the trade dispute with the USA, I do not see how it is possible that its consumption”.

So science doesn’t get stuck?
«Science and innovation must never be stopped, research in this sector must go on because it can give rise to answers to problems and diseases through, for example, the production of fabrics. However, it is necessary to reflect on the rift between food on the one hand and nature on the other which creates this idea of ​​introducing products grown in the laboratory, from meat to milk or other».

What changes?
«We are used to our food, to natural foods that are linked to biological cycles. This fracture opens up a series of enormous questions and questions a production system that not only characterizes the food we consume, but also the rural landscape, the aspects related to tourism and sociality”.

What is to be done?
«We need to put a stop to this type of evolution of science which is heading towards a social fracture: we are faced with the denial of agriculture and breeding. It is the replacement of nature with the laboratory, it is a dangerous drift that has nothing to do with the use of insects which are natural products anyway. We don’t eat them but there are many populations who do, so we have to inform the consumer”.

What is worrying you?
“I’m concerned that there isn’t a focus on consequences, we’re talking about replacing nature and breaking a pattern with devastating impacts. Then there is also a problem of concentration in the hands of a few of this technology as shown by the billion dollar investments».

Is synthetic meat more sustainable?
«The rules in force in the European Union for sustainable agriculture are the most advanced in the world and the most attentive to the environment. And we are second to none when it comes to animal welfare rules.”