In recent years, more and more meat alternatives for vegetarians have appeared. Most of the time, they are based on vegetables, vegetable proteins and can be found in most supermarkets in Romania. But important progress has also been made on the side of meat foods produced in the laboratory from scratch.
The latest country to have a problem with lab-grown meat is Italy. The Italian parliament has passed a law banning the production, sale and import of lab-grown meat. The radical gesture aims to defend tradition and local agriculture, farmers. According to the Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, Italy thus became “the first safe country in the world against the social and economic risks of synthetic food”.
Read also: Mandatory in Romania, it happens on store shelves. That’s how you understand how much the meat actually costs, what the sausages contain
Where do you find lab-made meat?
Currently, lab-grown meat has been approved for consumption in the US and Singapore. Even so, if a law is adopted at the level of the European Union that will approve the consumption on the old continent, the new law in Italy could be annulled, the European legislation being more important.
Even so, the decision adopted in Italy is seen as a problem by organizations that fight for the protection of animals, but also by specialists who are of the opinion that it practically denies the commercialization of products that would facilitate the reduction of the impact on the environment. For reference, the law was passed in Parliament with 159 votes in favor and 53 votes against.
Read also: A food could be banned in Romania. Fine of 20,000 lei for those who sell it
Lab meat, banned
A year ago, the current Minister of Agriculture promised to stop “synthetic food” in Italy. Now, he has praised the defense of Italian food tradition by MPs.
One of the main opponents of the law is professor Elena Cattaneo, senator and specialist in bio-sciences. She condemned the petition behind the new law, relying on emotion rather than the practical side of the equation. Basically, she drew attention to a poster that presented natural food as good and cultivated food as bad.
