The Italian government wants research into the effects of artificial food | Science and health

According to the Italian Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida, the study has already been approved by the research board attached to the ministry.

The goal, he says, is to “understand the effects of products made in a laboratory” to see if they “do not harm or harm our citizens from a health point of view.”

“I think it is a step forward,” the minister declared during a conference in Rome.

The event was promoted by the Coldiretti farmers’ federation, which has already collected 200,000 signatures demanding the approval of a law banning the production and marketing of artificial foods in Italy, including laboratory-made meat.

Coldiretti’s president, Ettore Prandini, said, “The lies about test-tube foods confirm that there is a strategy by multinational corporations to modify natural food patterns based on quality and tradition,” calling artificial products “Frankenstein food.”

Green Left Alliance deputy and coordinator Eleonora Ivey accused Minister Lollobrigida of “obscurantism” and said that artificial foods “could contribute to solving some problems”, as long as patents are not the preserve of multinational corporations.