An investigation by Greenpeace has claimed a series of bans and restrictions on lab-grown meat products across Europe have been influenced by high-level lobbying from senior beef industry executives and livestock interests.
A report by Unearthed, the investigative arm of Greenpeace UK, claims concerted business pressure led to Italy’s November ban on the controversial products, and that its influence stretched right to the top table in talks with the EU Commission.
The claims come with UK food safety watchdog the FSA currently holding talks with the new Labour government about fast-tracking the approvals process for lab-grown meat in the UK, alongside a range of other currently restricted products.
Unearthed, whose allegations were published today on the Dutch website Follow The Money, claims that Eat Europe, a collaboration between Italian agricultural association Coldiretti and Brussels-based thinktank Farm Europe and whose members include leading livestock groups, co-ordinated concerted political lobbying against the technology to protect the interests of farmers.
It claims its president Luigi Scordamaglia, who was formerly CEO of Inalca, Italy’s biggest beef producer, met with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and agriculture commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski in February this year to demand they “say no to lab foods”, coinciding with farmer protests about the technology.
Days later Wojciechowski successfully demanded that plans for lab-grown meat were ditched from the EU’s 2040 climate plan.
Among other claims of the group’s influence, Unearthed says in January this year Coldiretti met with Hungary’s agriculture minister to discuss restrictions on lab-grown meat, with the country subsequently announcing a ban and using its role as EU council presidency to push for tougher regulations on the technology.
Earlier this month Eat Europe held a lunch with the EU’s agriculture ministers to discuss “preserving European food traditions” where concerns were raised about the threat of cultivated meat, the report goes on.
It also co-ordinated an event at a food industry gathering in New York City “to compare strategies” and “share how it is preventing the spread of synthetic food through national legislation”.
Other countries discussing fresh restrictions include France and Romania, where a ban has passed the senate.
Coldiretti says it advocates for a “climate transition fit for all categories of products, rooted [in] our farming systems rather than labs”.
In a statement responding to the claims, Farm Europe said: “Farm Europe is a thinktank making its own research activities, working on credible solutions for climate and green transitions.
“On cellular issues, we assessed the available research of this disruptive technology and came to the conclusion that the production process is closer to pharmaceutical products than to conventional food.”
The controversy over alleged protectionist activities comes with regulators in the UK planning to work alongside other countries to create an approvals process for lab-grown meat.
In May, The Grocer revealed the FSA was set to unveil plans for a system of international co-operation for approval of products, which would use approvals from countries such as Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
Earlier this month, the UK became the first country in Europe to approve the sale of meat grown in a laboratory, giving the green light to a petfood made of cell-cultivated chicken by Meatly, after a process involving the FSA and Defra.
Meanwhile, a major new YouGov poll has been released showing only one in four Brits say they would be prepared to eat lab-grown meat. When asked if they would eat lab-grown meat, currently only a quarter (26%) say they would if it were available commercially.
The figure represents only a modest seven-point increase from when YouGov asked previously in 2012, when the figure was 19%.
The pollster found men were substantially more likely to say they would be willing to eat lab-grown meat than women (36% vs 16%), as are younger people when compared to older people (36% of 18 to 24-year-olds vs 18% of over-65s).
Those who say they “love eating meat” appeared no more enthusiastic or sceptical than the wider public, meanwhile, with 29% saying they would probably eat lab-grown meat. Ten per cent of non-meat-eaters said they were prepared to consume meat that did not result in the death of an animal.
1 Readers' comment