Italy outlaws lab-grown meat in gesture towards farmers

Italian politicians voted to support a law that stops the making, selling, or bringing in of lab-grown meat or animal food. The right-wing government says it’s to protect Italian traditions.

Italy’s Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida said that Italy is the first country in the world to be safe from the dangers of fake food that can harm society and the economy.

There were protests both in favor and against the ban when parliament voted.

At one time, there was a fight between farmers and some MPs.

The leader of the Coldiretti farmers’ group, Ettore Prandini, argued with two politicians from the More Europe party. He called them “criminals” for not supporting the ban on lab-grown meat and said their signs were against science and Italy.

One of the politicians, Benedetto Della Vedova, said he was a troublemaker. The middle-of-the-road politicians asked the farmers’ group to say sorry, and the head of the lower house of parliament said that disagreements should never turn into violence.

Breaking the law could result in a fine of €60,000 (£52,000).

Right now, the law won’t do much because lab-grown meat is only allowed to be sold for people to eat in Singapore and the US.

The EU has not approved lab-grown meat, also known as “novel foods”, yet. But if it does, Italy’s new law might be questioned by the European Commission.

In September, Wolfgang Gelbmann from the European Food Safety Authority said that they hadn’t received any proposal for approval yet.

“In Europe, we do not have those products for sale yet. ” Because regulators, the European Commission, and member states see them as new foods that need to be checked for safety by Efsa, approved by member states and the European Commission.

The new law is a win for Italy’s agriculture minister. He promised a year ago to stop fake food from being served in Italy. He thanked the MPs for supporting the new law, which was created because of a request from the Coldiretti lobby group.

“We are protecting our food and how we get it by keeping the connection between food, land, and the work people do to get it. This has been happening for thousands of years,” said Mr. Lollobrigida on Italian TV.

We need to keep our workers, farmers, and people who deserve to eat good food safe. Lollobrigida is in the prime minister’s far-right Brothers of Italy party and has praised Italy’s tradition of food and wine.

However, Professor Elena Cattaneo, a lifelong senator and expert in bioscience, criticized the petition. She said it was a very emotional and simplistic leaflet that portrayed natural food as good and lab-grown food as bad, made from “crazy cells in bioreactors”.

The law says you can’t make fake meat from animal cells unless you don’t hurt the animal. And you can’t use meat words on plant-based food labels.

Critics say lab-grown meat is not fake because it is made by growing natural cells without changing their genes.

The law is not good for animal welfare groups. They think that lab-made meat can help the environment by reducing carbon emissions.