Czech cultivated meat company Bene Meat Technologies has sent an open letter to the European Commission asking it to review Italy’s ban on cultivated meat due to safety concerns and its compliance with EU law.
“The EU has a range of legislative instruments to ensure food safety”
The letter states that Italy’s ban on the technology was based on unfounded scientific claims about its safety, disregarding the EU’s standard food safety assessment mechanisms while violating the common market principle, posing a threat to EU interests.
“The EU has a range of legislative instruments to ensure food safety, often directly applicable, and not requiring the adoption of standards at a national level,” argues Bene Meat Technologies.
Factual scientific information
The letter, signed on behalf the company’s team by CEO Roman Kříž, also notes that as an experienced company in cellular agriculture, it can assert that cell-based products offer significant health, environmental, and ethical advantages, leading to a more sustainable approach to food production.
“We are aware that innovative steps can bring with them an initial mistrust of something new, however, such mistrust should never result in modern society trying to ban innovation without factual and scientifically based argumentation, which we are currently witnessing in the case of Italy,” reads the letter.
It also adds that top biotechnology companies from the USA, Israel, and the EU are heavily invested in developing cultured meat, recognizing its environmental and food security potential.
In the letter, the company reiterates that it believes Italy has “no substantive reasons” for its decision. It also expressed its willingness to engage in discussions based on expertise and factual information to make risk assessments.
A coalition against the technology
The Italian Chamber of Deputies passed the bill banning cultivated meat last November, arguing that it has not been proven safe to eat and that the technology threatens the country’s food heritage. However, the European Commission has already said Italy violated the EU scrutiny procedure by passing a law without reviewing its draft through TRIS.
In similar events regarding the prohibition of cultivated meat in Europe, a coalition of agricultural ministers led by Austria, France (which has already introduced a bill to ban cultivated meat), and Italy gathered to debate the potential threat of cultivated meat to society at EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting this January.
According to the Good Food Institute think tank, the coalition used outdated scientific reviews and misinformation to make a case against the technology.
Interestingly, the coalition counted on the presence of the Czech agricultural minister, whose government granted Mewery, a Czech biotech developing cultivated pork, €200,000 through the CzechInvest Technological Incubator the same month of the EU debate.
Informed choices for traditional or cultivated meat
Founded in 2020, Bene Meat Technologies is led by a team of 80 experts, including biotechnologists and food scientists, to develop and commercialize cultivated meat. On its cultivated meat R&D path, the food tech has developed various products for new applications, including raw materials for pet food ingredients.
Last year, the company reached a significant milestone by becoming the first in the EU to register its ingredients for pet food in the Feed Materials Register as a feed raw material. After the completion of its first production line for pet food ingredients, the company expects to launch its first product in the European market sometime this year.
“The decision to eat meat, whether traditional or cultured, should be based on informed consumer preferences. The criteria for assessing environmental, health, or ethical impacts should be the same, regardless of the origin of the meat,” says Bene Meat Technologies in its letter.
