The Italian cabinet has reportedly
approved a bill to ban the production and marketing of synthetic
food and feed, sources said after a cabinet meeting Tuesday
evening.
Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida presented the bill
seeking to ban the production and sale of synthetic food in
Italy at the meeting of Premier Giorgia Meloni's cabinet on
Tuesday.
The bill bans the sale, production for exportation, and
importation of food for human consumption or animal feed
stemming from the cultivation of cells or tissue. Breaching the
law would be punishable by fines of between 10,000 and 60,000
euros and the confiscation of the goods.
Among other things, synthetic food is seen to have big potential
as a way to make products that look and taste like meat but do
not involve killing animals.
Ettore Prandini, the president of farmers' association
Coldiretti, backed the bill.
"After meat, experimentation has been extended to fish and to
milk, endangering the natural nature of the foods that are the
biggest part of our diet", said Prandini, whose association
launched a petition calling for the ban of synthetic foods that
got over half a million signatures.
"The lies about test-tube food confirm that there is a precise
strategy by the multinationals, which, with skillful marketing
operations, are trying to change natural dietary habits based on
quality and tradition.
"The truth is that it is not meat, but a synthetic, engineered
product that does not save the environment, because it consumes
more water than traditional livestock farms; that does not help
heath, because there is no guarantee that the chemicals used are
safe for food consumption; and, furthermore, it is not
accessible to all, because it is in the hands of the
multinationals".
However, Giordano Masini of the More Europe party, blasted the
bill. "A new day, a new enemy, a new crime," said Masini.
"Instead of welcoming a potential new development opportunity,
which could bring new businesses and more jobs, the government
rushes to ban it, imagining health risks that no one has ever
shown.
"The outcome is that, in the end, foods obtained via cell
culture will arrive anyway, being as it is the EFSA that
evaluates the health risks of food products (in Europe) not the
Italian government, and the European Union will allow them onto
the single market. "So producers in other countries who, in the
meantime, can do research and development will be the ones to
benefit".
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