Why is Italy planning to ban lab-grown food?

Italy’s government has approved a draft law that would ban the production and sale of food and meat grown in laboratories.

The bill, which has to be passed in both houses of the country’s Parliament, would ban the production of food or feed “from cell cultures or tissues derived from vertebrate animals”, reported Reuters.

The ban would also apply to lab-produced fish and synthetic milk, noted BBC.

Violating the rules would attract fines of up to 60,000 euros ($65,022).

Factories could be shut down for flouting the ban, while manufacturers may lose their right to get public funding for up to three years, as per Reuters.

Let’s take a closer look at the proposed bill and why it is being criticised.

Lab-grown meat

Lab-grown or ‘cultured meat’ is produced by obtaining stem cells from an animal through biopsy.

These cells are then kept in a “warm, sterile vessel with a solution called a growth medium, containing nutrients including salts, proteins and carbohydrates”, as per Science Focus. These cells double every 24 hours or so.

After the meat is grown, it can be harvested and processed in whatever manner the manufacturers prefer for selling.

The first lab-grown burger that was eaten at a press conference in London in 2013 cost $375,000.

Currently, Singapore is the only country that allows the sale of cultivated chicken. Late last year, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the sale of cultivated chicken for human consumption.

European countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Spain have announced plans to invest in the research and development of cell-based foods.

Italy’s reasons to ban lab-grown meat

Italy’s right-wing government has backed the ban, saying it aims to “safeguard our nation’s heritage”.

Francesco Lollobrigida, the minister for agriculture and food sovereignty, said the bill intends to “protect our culture and our tradition, including food and wine”, reported The Guardian.

He added, “Laboratory products, in our opinion, do not guarantee quality, wellbeing and the protection of our culture, our tradition.”

Orazio Schillaci, Italy’s health minister, said the move is “based on precautionary principles”.
“[Because] there are no scientific studies yet on the effects of synthetic foods. We want to safeguard our nation’s heritage and our agriculture based on the Mediterranean diet,” Schillaci was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

The Italian government led by Giorgia Meloni had pledged to “protect” Italian food from technological innovations when it took over power in October.

Coldiretti, Italy’s biggest farmers’ association, has lobbied for the ban. Welcoming the move against “synthetic food”, the agriculture lobby said the ban will safeguard home production “from the attacks of multinational companies”, reported Reuters.

In recent months, Coldiretti and other agriculture lobbies have gathered half a million signatures demanding the protection of “natural food vs synthetic food”. Meloni is among those who have signed it.

According to BBC, at a “flash mob” organised by Coldiretti outside her office in Rome, the Italian prime minister said, “we could only celebrate with our farmers a measure that puts our farmers in the vanguard, not just on the issue of defending excellence… but also in defending consumers”.

ALSO READ: You could soon order 100% lab-grown meat

Arguments for and against lab-grown food

Supporters say cell-based food steers clear of animal killing and is also more environmentally friendly.

As the meat is produced in a sterile environment, there is less risk of contamination and diseases, as per Science Focus.

While the nutrient profile of lab-grown meat is similar to that of conventionally farmed meat, it could be increased or even customised.

A spokesperson for UPSIDE Foods, a San Francisco-based leader in the cultivated meat arena, told Science Focus last year: “We are exploring ways to improve the nutrient profiles of our products. Whether that’s less saturated fat and cholesterol, or more vitamins or healthy fats”.

It also remains debated if lab-produced food is better for the environment.

A 2019 study from the University of Oxford warned that the energy required to produce cultivated meat could emit more greenhouse gases than traditional farming.

Pelle Sinke, a researcher at Netherlands-based sustainability consultancy CE Delft, said cultured meat is “no silver bullet” to all the problems of the world.

But “it certainly has a lot of potential because it directly offers a more sustainable alternative to conventional meats. It is a more efficient way of converting crops into meat, and therefore much less land is needed to produce these crops,” he told Science Focus.

“But it does use more energy. For a lower carbon footprint than conventional meats, it is crucial that renewable energy sources are used in its production, including in the supply chain – importantly for the production of nutrients and other ingredients needed for the culture medium”, Sinke added.

Even though cultivated meat does not involve animal suffering, some vegans have refused to support the idea.

Ella Marshall, deputy trademark manager of the Vegan Society, the world’s oldest vegan association, told Wired in an email earlier this year that “we cannot officially support cultivated meat as animals are still used in its production […] we would not be able to register such products with the Vegan Trademark.”

They also do not consider lab-produced meat vegan. Gary L Francione, author of the 2020 book Why Veganism Matters: The Moral Value of Animals, said of lab-grown meat that “if an animal was used, it is not vegan”, Wired reported.

Criticism for Italy’s proposed ban

Opposition as well as experts have condemned the Italy government’s decision.

Riccardo Magi, the president of the leftwing party Più Europa, said the Meloni government had “created a new crime”.

“This time they are taking it out on synthetic food and prefer to continue with their reckless prohibition instead of doing research and developing a technology that could allow us to pollute and kill less,” Magi was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

Some animal welfare groups argue cultured meat can help in protecting the environment from carbon emissions, noted BBC.

Calling the ban a “bad public policy,” Cellular Agriculture Europe said it would “reduce consumers’ ability to choose the food they want,”, especially for those “who are concerned about animal welfare and the environmental impact of their food”, reported TechCrunch.

Alice Ravenscroft, head of policy at the Good Food Institute Europe, said: “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”, reported Reuters.

“It’s important to stress that cultivated meat has a lot of potential benefits and the passing of such a law would essentially shut Italy off from these,” Ravenscroft was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

While no approval has been sought from the European Food Safety Authority yet, the European Union’s agency has said that cell-based agriculture, such as cultured meat, “could be considered as a promising and innovative solution…for healthy and environmentally friendly food systems”, Forbes reported.

As per BBC, Italy would have to approve the sale of cultured meat produced within the European Union if the bloc approves the proposal due to the free movement of goods and services.

With inputs from agencies

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