The ‘test tubes’ at the table are rejected without appeal by 84% of Italians, who declare themselves against the idea of laboratory-produced foods – from meat to milk, from cheese to fish – which can replace cultivated ones. This is what emerges from the Coldiretti-Censis survey disseminated at Cibus in Parma, after the approval of the bill which bans the production and placing on the market of synthetic food and feed.
The Executive’s choice – underlines Coldiretti – meets the strong opposition expressed by citizens to artificial foods, with a preponderant no by age group, educational qualification, gender, territorial area of residence, income level. An opposition also highlighted by the half a million signatures collected as part of the initiative by Coldiretti, Campagna Amica, World Farmers Markets Coalition, World Farmers Organization, Farm Europe and Filiera Italia. A petition signed not only by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, but also by other ministers and undersecretaries, national and European parliamentarians, mayors, personalities from the culture of sport and entertainment, institutional representatives of Regions and Provinces, entrepreneurs and numerous bishops.
After the authorization for human consumption granted by the US regulatory body FDA to chicken fillets created in the laboratory by Upside Foods, a US company financed by big names in world finance such as Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Elon Musk’s brother – highlights Coldiretti – the risk is also spreading in the European Union, where the first applications for marketing authorization involving the EU authority EFSA and the EU Commission could already be introduced this year. But it’s not just test-tube steak. In fact, the Remilk company wants to open a chemical factory in Denmark for the production of synthetic milk made in the laboratory without cows, remarked Coldiretti. Again – he reports – the latest drift at the table comes from Germany, with sticks of fish substance grown in vitro without ever having even seen the sea, while in the USA they are throwing themselves on test-tube sushi. The German company Bluu Seafood involved in the project promises to recreate the meat of Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout and carp in the laboratory, starting from cultured cells enriched with vegetable proteins.