Rome’s parliament wants to ban meat from laboratories. Now Italy is threatened with a confrontation with Brussels because laboratory meat is allowed in the EU.
The Italian government led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is declaring war on laboratory food and embarking on a confrontational course with Brussels. Rome’s Chamber of Deputies approved a controversial bill banning the production and marketing of cultured meat with 159 votes to 53. Government parties welcomed the law’s approval.
“For us, the priority is to protect our tradition, our products and, above all, the health of Italians”, commented Davide Bergamini, deputy of the ruling right-wing party, Lega. The objective of the law is “to guarantee the highest level of protection for the health of citizens and to preserve agricultural heritage”, highlighted the leader of the parliamentary group of the Meloni “Fratelli d”Italia” (Brothers of Italy) party, Tommaso Foti. . The centrist opposition party “Più Europa” criticized the law as an “anti-scientific and anti-European ban”. The party demanded that the constitutionality of the law be examined. Brussels approved laboratory meat. Italy is therefore threatened with conflict with the EU Commission.
“I hope Europe follows our path”
The reaction from the ruling party, Forza Italia, came promptly. “Our bill is not anti-scientific because it does not impede research, nor is it anti-European. On the contrary, we hope that Europe will follow our path”, explained Raffaele Nevi, head of the agriculture department at Forza Italia. The law provides for a ban on the sale, production for export and import of food products derived from cell culture.
Violations must be punished with fines of between 10,000 and 60,000 euros and confiscation of assets. Synthetic foods are seen as having great potential to produce products that look and taste like meat without the need to kill animals. (APA)