Italy bans cultivated meat products

Italy has become the first country to ban the production, distribution and import of cultivated meat, which is cultured from animal-derived cells and requires no slaughter. The Italian parliament passed the new law after months of consideration.

‘In defence of health, of the Italian production system, of thousands of jobs, of our culture and tradition, with the law approved today, Italy is the first nation in the world to be safe from the social and economic risks of synthetic food,’ Italy’s minister of agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, announced on Facebook on 16 November. The measure also prohibits the use of meat-related terms, like ‘salami’ or ‘steak’, for plant-based meat products.