Parliament has approved legislation banning the production and sale of a product not yet available on the market, namely laboratory-grown meat, also called “synthetic meat” by those who want to create some panic among less accustomed citizens. Inspired by the brochures of farmers’ unions that inform themselves, they are even “Frankenstein meat”, as described by the so-called “Food Sovereignty” minister Francesco Lollobrigida.

An election announcement

Between a protocol with Albania that talks about structures that do not yet exist (even in this case) and which might one day welcome especially unfortunate immigrants, and the conflict with the unions over the strike, another election advertising measure comes into play. This always brings color. A law that reads, among other things, without minor changes to its text, risks banning the production and sale of products such as yoghurt, kefir, yeast, beer and the same meat derived from livestock.

The truth is that while prices are rising and the cost of living is crushing the purchasing power of millions of families, those who promise heaven and earth are trying to hide from the eyes of their voters a budget bill that does not solve half the problem and, above all, does not solve half the problem. As experts say, it does not bring development.

Cultured meat will probably reach our tables without having to ask permission from one government or another: Once the research is concluded and the approval of the European Food Safety Authority is obtained, any EU country will simply put it on the market. and there will be no national law that could prevent its spread: It is already served at a restaurant in Singapore and another near Tel-Aviv, some American restaurants will soon include it on their menus. It is part of the future, and there will be no desperate attempts to stop it from coming.

Defense of lobbies

The real problem is political: Italy, ruled by the right, is becoming a country where the rights of millions of citizens are increasingly undermined in the name of protecting small and very powerful lobbies. The country where unlimited use of an app like Uber, which helps travel between cities at affordable prices, is prohibited, so as not to anger taxi drivers who charge crazy prices (presumably tax-free) for the same rides; the country where they want to eliminate free beaches as a favor to beachgoers who pay so little to occupy public spaces and make millions every year; The country that promised farmers that if one day meat produced without slaughtering hundreds of thousands of animals comes to market, everyone will be banned from buying meat.

The basic idea is that the freedom of everyone must be restricted in order to “protect” a few. It is an idea that is sustained by ignorant statements defending traditions: “How beautiful the Fiat 500 was, what a wonderful smell came from its exhaust. Down with electric cars!”, “They want us to eat synthetic meat, crickets and grasshoppers, but we defend the food of our tradition and the recipes of our grandmothers’ cholesterol queens”. In reality, , as Rilke said, “The future enters us long before it happens.” And so, reading Ismea’s annual report, you can see that even without the terrible “Frankenstein meat”, beef consumption in Europe is constantly decreasing, and in 2022 it will exceed the previous year We discover that it recorded a contraction of 2.6 percent compared to A further decline in consumption of around 2.4 percent was recorded in the first six months of this year, the first reason being, of course, the increase in prices (the only market that remains afloat is the much less costly pork market), but also the eating habits of Europeans who are more careful than in the past about what they eat. It is a natural change in habits. and choose a healthier diet that limits animal protein consumption.

The anxiety of the “winners”

Perhaps this is what prompted Coldiretti’s president, Ettore Prandini, to attack the mild-mannered Benedetto Della Vedova. The +Europa MP displayed a banner reading “feed ignorance” during a live sit-in outside Palazzo Chigi to protest the useless law.

Rather than celebrating the preemptive deportation of an imaginary enemy who would damage his already disastrous market, Prandini felt the need to vent his anger on a small party that “dared” to defy the law by presenting scientific evidence and talking about the future. . Perhaps he, too, realized that he had achieved nothing and that his association had been reduced to functioning as a fan club for cigarette salesmen.

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