The Italian government on Tuesday introduced a draft law that, if approved, would ban the production and sale of cultivated food and meat.
“We are proud to be the first nation in the world to stop this decadence,” said Augusta Montaruli, a lawmaker from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party.
Cultivated, or cell-based, meat is created by harvesting cells from live animals, providing them with nutrients to grow in bioreactors and then taking additional steps to turn the cells into a consumer-ready meat product.
Photo: Reuters
The draft law, which would only come into force if approved by both branches of parliament, appears to be a preventive move aimed at signaling the government’s determination in defending Italy’s culinary tradition.
The draft “is based on the precautionary principle, because there are no scientific studies yet on the effects of synthetic foods,” Italian Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci told a news conference. “We want to protect citizens’ health and to safeguard our nation’s heritage and our agrifood culture based on the Mediterranean diet.”
While plant-based proteins are widely available, cultivated meat still has a long way to go before it hits supermarket shelves.
Most start-ups are yet to scale up the technology before they even obtain regulatory approval.
“This development puts Italy at odds with the rest of Europe, where other governments are eager to unlock the benefits of cultivated meat,” said Alice Ravenscroft, head of policy at the Good Food Institute Europe, which represents the alternative protein industry.
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