Italy wages war on lab-grown food in drive to protect tradition
ROME, March 28 (Reuters) – Italy’s government on Tuesday approved a bill banning the use of laboratory-produced food and animal feed as it aims to safeguard the country’s agri-food heritage, its agriculture minister told a news conference 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”, the bill seen by Reuters said.
A breach of the rules could result in fines of up to 60,000 euros ($65,022).
“Laboratory products in our opinion do not guarantee quality, well-being and the protection of our culture, our tradition,” said Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, a senior member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy party.
Meloni’s nationalist administration has pledged to shield Italy’s food from technological innovations seen as harmful, and renamed the agriculture ministry the “ministry for agriculture and food sovereignty”.
By Angelo Amante | Reuters
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