Italy bans the cultured meat: what does it mean?

Translated by Angela Tagliafierro

On July 19^th, 2023, a bill proposed by the Minister of Health Schillaci and by the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and of the Woods Lollobrigida was approved by the Senate. The article n. 2 affirms that: 

“1. Based on the principle of precaution, as said in the art. 7 of the rules (EC) n. 178/2002 of European Parliament and Council, January 28^th, 2002, food workers and animal feed workers are forbidden from using cultured food or animal feeds made of, isolated or deriving from cells cultures or tissues coming from vertebrate animals when preparing food, drinks and animal feed, selling, importing, exporting, distributing, that is encouraging for these purposes.”

This means that the Italian Senate decided to ban not only the promotion and the sale of the so-called “cultivated meat”, or cultured meat, but also its production.

What is cultured meat?

The first “cultured-meat-hamburger” dates to 2013, when an engineer of the Maastricht University – Mark Post – introduced it to the community. His product was made of bovine cells, derived from stem cells grown in the laboratory. However, the result presented two problems: the stringy consistency of the food and the use of the foetal bovine serum. The latter is an issue for the sustainability of the product and the idea of “cruelty-free”.

Today, after 10 years of research, the contemporary cultured meat seems to not have concerns in its taste either in its consistency and the foetal bovine serum is not used any longer. Furthermore, the research involved more and more start up and researchers in the creation of this food.

And the reason?

Ethics about the consumption of animal proteins and its sustainability are the main advantages, among many, of the usage of cultured meat. It is calculated that every year around 70 billion of land animals are killed to satisfy the global food needs. Among these, most of them live in very small cages for their whole life.

However, it is necessary to take into consideration their feeding since it is one of the most polluting factors on our planet. As a matter of fact, the intensive animal farming is “one of the factors that provoke most of the current environmental problems”, as the FAO declared in 2006.

Firstly, this happens because animals need to be fed: the 67% of the American cultures are made for animal feeding; from these cultures the 15% of the world's greenhouse gas are released. Secondly, “animal husbandry is responsible for more than the 60% of the global emissions of ammonia” (FAO, 2006). This affects the reduction of the ozone layer and the water pollution.

Actually, bureaucracy and ideology are the main difficulties related to the cultivated meat: as a matter of fact, the idea of eating something artificial is not largely approved. Another disadvantage is surely the price, which is actually decreasing, compared to the 250,000 dollars needed for the first “artificial hamburger” in the history.

If in Italy the production, the promotion, and the selling of this product may be banned, in other countries this product is largely eaten. In 2020 in Singapore the first restaurant of cultured meat was opened: there, you can savour the cultured chicken at €13 per dish. Since June 2023, the USA Agriculture Department also approved the selling of the cultured chicken.

Italy’s position

On November 16^th, 2023, the Italian Parliament approved the bill proposed by Meloni’s Government, closing the door on the research and the production of cultured meat. As a matter of fact, aiming to “safeguard the health and the Italian agricultural wealth”, the bill was approved with 159 votes in favour, 53 contrary and 34 abstentions.

Then, the parliament sent it to the European Parliament in Bruxelles and to the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella, who, despite the first doubts, signed the bill. The European Commission, instead, can express its opinion on this bill within 90 days; hence, the law will be suspended until March, 04^th, 2024. If the European Union happens to be in favour of the cultured meat or oppose to the Italian law, Italy may be sanctioned for violating the European rules. The Italian legal system must conform to them, as the International Law establishes.

Mondo Internazionale APS – Riproduzione Riservata ® 2023