Last year Italian Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida indicated his support for a national ban on cultivated, or so-called ‘lab-meat,’ in an effort to protect the rich culinary history of that great nation.
Subsequently, Italy’s Senate passed a law (159 votes in favour to 53 against) prohibiting the use, sale, import and export of food and feed “from cell cultures or tissue derived from vertebrate animals.”
The law was finally approved when Italy’s lower house of parliament voted in favour, but not without significant opposition from some parliamentarians and indeed from organisations and critics who argued that the law unfairly limited choice for the consumer and prevented the opportunity of pursuing food production options that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the provisions of the new law, factories found to be producing lab-grown meat face fines of up to €150,000 ($162,700).
Also in the firing line of the new law are terms and products such as “Cauliflower steaks.” As the Financial Times reported at the time, “Words like ‘tofu steak’ or ‘veg prosciutto’… reveal an inappropriate phenomenon of using labels traditionally associated with meat to sell products with vegetable protein.”
Much of the Italian debate on this issue was framed as the latest chapter in the ongoing ‘culture wars’ between the right wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s and those who take a grasshoppers are a delicious source of protein so what’s all the hassle about approach to ‘food.’
The latest right wing scourge to enter this debate is Florida’s own Governor Ron De Santis. He has now issued an official statement confirming he has signed order SB 1084 “to prohibit the sale of lab-grown meat in the state of Florida.”
Florida, he says, “is taking action to stop the World Economic Forum’s goal of forcing the world to eat lab-grown meat and insects, “an overlooked source of protein.”
For De Santis, “Florida is fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals.”. “Our administration will continue to focus on investing in our local farmers and ranchers, and we will save our beef.”
But what is the position in Ireland?
The issue of synthetic or lab grown meat was raised on a number of occasions last year by Independent TD Carol Nolan.
In November of 2023 Deputy Nolan asked Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue if he was aware of the proposals by the Italian Agriculture Minister to ban synthetic food including the production, import and marketing of food produced in laboratories and if he would outline his department’s position with respect to synthetic foods.
In his response, the minister stated that while he was aware of recent reports referring to a proposal by the Italian Agriculture Minister that would ban the production, import and marketing of food produced in laboratories, he was “not aware of any similar proposal for Ireland.”
Deputy Nolan also pursued the matter with the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly. In his reply to her he noted that while food safety policy is a priority for his Department, it “is informed by scientific advice from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland(FSAI) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).”
The Minister was advised by the FSAI that newly developed synthetic foods are classified as novel foods (foods which have not been consumed to a significant extent in the EU before May 1997.)
He also confirmed that synthetic foods such as cultured meat, lab meat and cultivated meat, are not currently authorised as novel foods in the EU and that due to the use of new technologies and production processes, these types of products will require pre-market authorisation as novel foods.
“The FSAI informs me that there have been no applications for cultured meat, lab meat and cultivated meat to be authorised as a novel food in the EU to date.”
I think the main point to take away from Minister’s Donnelly’s reply is while lab meat is “not currently authorised as novel foods in the EU” the door is still wide open for future approvals and authorisations by the EU.
That this will eventually happen is probably 50/50 at this point in time given the war it would create between the EU’s own elites and an increasingly and willingly confrontational farming and agriculture sector.
Who knows. By 2025 we could well see EU campaigns asking us all to enjoy a ‘Happy Winter Season with delicious tofu turkey.’