France wants the European Union to issue a “clear” definition of lab-grown meat, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said Thursday as he presented measures designed to satisfy protesting farmers.
Attal told a news conference cultured meat was “not part of what we understand by French diet” which is why France wanted “clear legislation at the European level to determine what lab-grown meat is”.
Last month, agriculture ministers from France, Austria and Italy kicked off what they called a “culinary alliance” seeking a public debate around lab-grown meat.
Synthetic meat cannot be sold in the European Union as it has not been authorised by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Austria and Italy said a public consultation and impact study of such lab-grown meat should be first carried out and then if — as seems likely — it is approved for human consumption, it should be clearly labelled.
Environmentalists see lab-grown meat as a way of helping cut the major greenhouse gas production that is created from livestock farming. Animal rights groups also view it as a way of reducing the death and poor conditions of live animals bred for food.
Italy in November last year imposed its own ban on the production and sale of synthetic meat, which is already authorised for sale in the United States and Singapore.
EU authorisation is needed for products considered to be a “novel food” to go on sale.
