After the approval last March of the bill that proposed prohibiting any ‘artificial’ food in the country, the legislative norm has just become effective that makes Italy the first European country to veto laboratory foodslike cultured meat.
Last week the green light was given in the Chamber of Deputies to the new law that prohibits the production, marketing and import in Italy of cultured meat and other synthetic foods, I understand the same as any produced from laboratory-grown cells or tissues derived from vertebrate animals, whether in whole or in part, and including animal feed.
The rule contemplates the imposition of Economic sanctions between 10,000 and 60,000 euros, or 10% of the business volume in the case of income greater than 60,000 euros, and may fine factories and companies with fines of up to 150,000 euros.
The final approval has not been without controversy, with tensions outside Parliament between protesters from the agricultural pressure group Coldiretti and two opposition legislators, one of whom, according to Reutersclaimed to have been attacked.
The Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigidahas celebrated the entry into force of the norm by maintaining the same speech that he expressed a few months ago, justifying this law as a measure of protection of Italian gastronomy and culture, as well as of workers, farmers and the health of the population.
“We protect our food, our food system, to maintain the relationship between food, land and human work that has been with us for millennia, guaranteeing the quality that Italy expresses and that is the expression of the food safety from the entire planet,” Lollobrigida declared in an interview on Italian television. In the opinion of the Meloni government, synthetic foods do not guarantee these principles.
Although neither cultured meat nor any other human or laboratory animal food is yet approved in the European Union, Lollobrigida claims that they are proud that Italy will be the first country to go ahead and ban these products, hoping that the European Parliament will never approve it, as it “ends up our traditional food system.”
Opponents of the law denounce that it is an attempt by the Meloni government to satisfy the sector’s lobbies. The most critical argue that producing meat without having to raise animals would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide a sustainable alternative to consumers who prefer foods that do not involve animal sacrifice or suffering.
Vegan Cooking (Single Books)
*Some prices may have changed since the last review
Photo | iStock
In DAP | The future of synthetic meat passes through San Sebastián: the Basque Country will have one of the largest European in vitro meat factories
In DAP | Italy changes the official recipe for bolognese sauce or ragù: you can use jarred sauce, but never spaghetti