Italy bans synthetic meat: "We defend our heritage and the health of Italians"

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni justified the measure and celebrated the fact that Italy will become the first country to prevent the production and sale of synthetic foods.

Giorgia Meloni en primer plano. — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (R) welcomes Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the Chigi palace in Rome, Italy, 08 March 2023//AGFEDITORIAL_FOT080323-55/Credit:Francesco Fotia/AGF/SIPA/2303081651

Published by

Santiago Ospital

4 de abril, 2023

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The Italian government has approved a bill to ban the marketing and production of synthetic foods. The regulation, which will be processed as a matter of urgency, includes synthetic meat and food for both human and animal consumption.

"Italy is the first nation in the world to ban the production, import and marketing of synthetic foods," celebrated Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday in Giorgia's notes, a program in which she explains her government's latest measures. The president clarified that in making the decision, she followed the "precautionary" principle of the European Union, which allows her to regulate "on these matters if there is no certainty about possible health risks."

With this measure we defend the health of our citizens, we defend our food heritage from destruction -because the destruction of food heritage is the antechamber of the destruction of all heritage-, we defend the territory from the risk of desertification, we defend jobs and also defend our small producers from the siege of multinationals.

The Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, Francesco Lollobrigida, was in charge of communicating the decision after the 26th Council of Ministers on March 28. Lollobrigida alsotook time to delve further into the reasons behind the ban:

In our opinion, laboratory products do not guarantee quality, nor -we say it with pride- the protection of our culture and tradition.

The Minister was accompanied by his counterpart in the Health Ministry, Orazio Schillaci, who pointed out that there is a complete lack of scientific evidence to support the consumption of synthetic foods. He also defended the Mediterranean diet -which he calls "Italian diet"-: "It provides all the necessary nutrients in a healthy and balanced way."

This is a courageous action by the Meloni government, which is in response to the request of almost 2,000 municipalities and the vast majority of the regions.

Penalties for non-compliance will range from €10,000 to €60,000, or up to 10% of the offender's total annual turnover. The illicit proceeds will also be confiscated.

In addition, administrative sanctions are foreseen, which intervene on the possibility of carrying out business activities, preventing access to financing or facilities granted by the State, other public entities or the European Union for a period of three years.