Italy made history on Thursday by becoming the first European Union nation to prohibit the production and sale of lab-grown meat, citing health concerns and the need to protect its livestock industry. The ban extends to cultivated meat, produced in labs using animal tissue cells, and also includes a prohibition on using labels that describe plant-based protein as meat. Violations of this ban could result in fines ranging from 10,000 to 60,000 euros ($10,900-$65,000), according to AFP.
The legislation, which received approval from Italy’s Senate earlier, aims to “protect the national livestock heritage” while acknowledging its cultural, socio-economic, and environmental significance. It also seeks to ensure a “high level of protection of human health” and safeguard the interests of consumers by providing them with information about the food they consume.
Italy’s main agricultural lobby, Coldiretti, refers to lab-grown meat as ‘Frankenstein’ meat and views the new law as a commitment to defend the Mediterranean diet. Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida expressed concerns that cultivated meat disrupts the longstanding relationship between land, humans, and work that has sustained the country for millennia.
However, an Italian non-profit organization, The International Organisation for the Protection of Animals, criticized the law as pointless, stating that the ban is currently unnecessary since cultured meat has not yet been approved for human consumption in Europe.
While the European Union considers lab-grown meat a ‘novel food,’ subject to authorization from the bloc, it is currently not permitted for sale in the EU. Nevertheless, companies in the United States have been securing funding for research in this emerging scientific field. The EU’s approval of cultivated meat, if granted in the future, would supersede Italy’s ban on the product.
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