The Italian government has approved a bill banning the use of laboratory-produced food and animal feed. If the proposal is passed by parliament, the Italian industry will not be allowed to produce food or feed "from cell cultures or tissues derived from vertebrate animals." 

A breach of the rules could result in fines of up to EUR 60,000 (~USD 65,000). The support behind the proposed legislation highlights the need to safeguard the country's agri-food heritage from the attacks of multinational companies. Italy’s agriculture minister also stated that according to his view, laboratory products do not guarantee quality. 

While the new bill garnered support from the agricultural sector lobby, there was strong opposition from food companies and animal rights groups that claimed the law would oppress the economic potential of this emerging field in Italy, holding back scientific progress and climate mitigation efforts.

Analyst Quick-Take: Recently, the Italian Government has been moving to enforce legislation restricting the development of the alternative proteins industry in the country. Earlier this year, the government endorsed a bill restricting plant-based meat products from using “meaty” terms, arguing that plant-based meat brands using traditional meat terms on their labels confuse consumers about their nutritional value. Due to the novel nature of cultivated meats, companies will often require regulatory approval from government bodies to sell lab-grown meat products to consumers. Currently, Singapore remains the only country allowing sales of cultivated meats; however, countries such as Singapore, the US , China , and Israel have recognized cultivated meat on top of their food tech priority lists. In 2022 , UPSIDE Food became the first to receive a “no questions” letter from the FDA, followed by Eat JUST’s Good Meat’s FDA approval in 2023 , bringing cell-cultured meat closer to commercialization in the US.