Italian government wages war on lab-grown food

Italy’s government this week approved a bill banning the use of laboratory-produced food and animal feed as it aims to safeguard the country’s agrifood heritage, its agriculture minister said after a cabinet meeting.

If the proposal is passed by parliament, Italian industry will not be allowed to produce food or feed “from cell cultures or tissues derived from vertebrate animals”, according to a draft of the bill seen by Reuters.

The new rules did not apply to products made elsewhere in the EU or in the European Economic Area, the draft said.

A breach of the rules could result in fines of up to €60,000 (R1.18m).

“Laboratory products in our opinion do not guarantee quality, wellbeing and the protection of our culture, our tradition,” Francesco Lollobrigida, a senior member of Prime Minister

Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, said.

Meloni’s nationalist administration has pledged to shield Italy’s food from technological innovations seen as harmful.

Agriculture lobby Coldiretti praised the move against “synthetic food”, saying a ban was needed to safeguard home production “from the attacks of multinational companies”.

The draft stipulates that factories where violations occur can be shut down and may lose their right to obtain public funding for up to three years.

The initiative angered activists across Europe.

“The passing of such a law would shut down the economic potential of this nascent field in Italy, holding back scientific progress and climate mitigation efforts,” Alice Ravenscroft, head of policy at the Good Food Institute Europe, said.