The Italian Council of Ministers has approved a draft bill that will prohibit the production and placing on the market of synthetic, laboratory-produced food and feed.
The bill was proposed by the country’s Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry Francesco Lollobrigida.
The purpose of the proposed legislation, according to the government, is to ensure the highest level of protection of citizens’ health and to “preserve the agri-food heritage”.
According to a government statement, there is an absence of specific legislation on the issue at EU level, which allows the Italian authorities to intervene in the area “as a precaution at a national level to protect the interests that are linked to health and cultural heritage”.
Minister Lollobrigida commented: “We look to the protection of our community. As a government we have addressed the issue of quality that laboratory products do not guarantee. We wanted to protect our culture and our tradition, including food and wine.”
He added: “If the production of synthetic foods were to be imposed on the markets, there would be greater unemployment, more risks for biodiversity, and products which, in our opinion, would not guarantee well-being.”
“There is no persecutory attitude but a strong desire to protect.”
The law, if passed, would ban the use of food or feed consisting of isolated or produced cell cultures or tissues derived from vertebrate animals in the areas of food and drink preparation; sale; importation; production for exportation; or otherwise distribution for food consumption.
In the event of a violation of the law, the product will be confiscated and the offending operator will be subject to a fine ranging from €10,000 up to a maximum of 10% of its turnover achieved in their most recent financial year prior to the verification of the violation.
Monitoring of such products will be carried out jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, and the Ministry of Health, the Italian government said.
