Italy Submits Draft EU Legislation to Ban Cell-Based Meat and Plant-Based Protein Labeled as Meat
With a draft legislation recently introduced to the European Commission, Italy is seeking to prohibit the production and marketing of cell-based meat, as well as the sale of plant-based proteins labeled as meat.
Under Article 7 of European Commission Regulation 178/2002, Italy submitted the present draft in light of the absence of specific legislation at the EU level as a precautionary measure to protect “health and cultural heritage.” Specifically, Italy calls for the prohibition of using food or feed consisting of, isolated, from, or produced from cell cultures or tissues derived from vertebrate animals. The draft legislation would bar food and feed business operators from preparing, promoting, selling, holding for sale, importing, producing for export, administering, or distributing cell-based products for consumption.