Synthetic meat: the government prohibits the production but not the import

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It is forbidden to produce food derived from cell cultures or tissues of vertebrate animals in Italy. The bill contained in the bill that the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida, brought to the meeting of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday 28 March is a stop to meat, fish and synthetic milk. At the moment, the draft provides for penalties from 10 to 60 thousand euros, or up to 10% of the total annual turnover, for those who produce, sell, distribute or administer food, drink and feed made in the laboratory starting from animal cells.

Therefore, after the restrictions on the use of insect flour, now comes the no to synthetic meat. But be careful: the prohibitions contained in article 2 of the bill will not apply to products legally manufactured or marketed in another member state of the European Union. In short, if EFSA, the EU food safety authority, were to approve their use in the Member States, due to the Community rules on the free movement of goods and services, Italy could not oppose their distribution.

The draft of the bill also provides that offenders will also be punished with a ban on access to contributions, loans and subsidies from the Italian state as well as from the EU. During the same period, the closure of the production plant will be ordered.

Naturally, Coldiretti applauds the bill as hypothesized, which in recent months had collected half a million signatures against laboratory meat, including that of the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni. “After the authorization for human consumption granted by the American food authority FDA to chicken fillets created in the laboratory by Upside Foods and those of Good Meat, the risk is also a spread in the European Union – reads a note from Coldiretti – where the first applications for marketing authorization could already be introduced this year. We thank the Government for accepting our appeal to stop a dangerous drift that puts the future of national food culture, the countryside and pastures and the entire Made in Italy food chain at risk”. Luigi Scordamaglia, managing director of Filiera Italia, the foundation headed by Coldiretti, defines the Lollobrigida bill as “an act of responsibility first of all towards the consumer”. The Italian milk industry also applauds the government’s initiative: “We are in a paradox – comments Paolo Zanetti, president of Assolatte – on the one hand we are asked to invest to make our productions even more environmentally friendly, on the other unscrupulous investors, under the pretext of environmental protection, try to promote a product that is anything but natural, and is therefore an enemy of the environment».

Criticisms of the bill have instead come from some animal welfare associations: “Synthetic meat – writes the International Organization for the Protection of Animals (Oipa) – is a product that offers a solution to various problems related to the production of meat: a production that does not animal welfare, environmental sustainability and food safety. Even if the production of cultured meat requires the use of animal cells, it can represent a cruelty-free alternative to meat production that can meet those who have not yet embraced the vegetarian or vegan choice».