Italy banned the production and sale of cultured meat on Thursday, citing health concerns and the need to preserve its farmers, even though the sale of this product is not yet authorized in the EU.
Italy thus becomes the first country in the European Union to ban cultured meat, produced in laboratories from animal tissue cells.
The law, approved by the Lower House of Parliament after receiving the green light from the Senate, also prohibits classifying plant-based proteins as “meat”, under penalty of heavy fines.
Authorized in Singapore and the United States.
Many companies around the world are marketing plant-based meat alternatives, touted as a solution to ethical issues surrounding factory farming and environmental concerns.
In fact, livestock farming is one of the main causes of greenhouse gas emissions.
Cultured meat is currently allowed to be sold in Singapore and the United States, but not in the EU, although European companies have raised funds to fund research in this area.
The EU considers cultured meat to be a “new food” and as such, like any new product, it should be subject to marketing authorisation.
Italian Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida stated that cultured meat “disrupts the virtuous relationship between land, man and work that, for millennia, has accompanied us and allows us to maintain the land.”
However, the International Organization for the Protection of Animals, an Italian NGO, considered this law unnecessary.
“This ban is completely unnecessary today, as cultured meat has not yet been approved for human consumption in Europe and therefore cannot be marketed,” he said.
Source: BFM TV
