Czech cell-based meat company Bene Meat Technologies has sent an open letter to the European Commission, urging it to review Italy’s ban on cell-based meat.

The letter, which stresses concerns regarding the Italian Government’s policy’s compliance with EU law, states: “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”.

It continued: “The EU has a range of legislative instruments to ensure food safety...we, therefore, consider the Act adopted by the Italian Parliament to be discriminatory, unsupported by scientific knowledge, violating the principle of the common market and bypassing the standard mechanisms of assessing food safety in the EU, which goes against the interests of the EU.”

“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."

The letter then calls for the European Commission to “properly assess the law from Italy" for its compliance with EU law. Signed on behalf of Bene Meat Technology’s team by CEO Roman Kříž, the letter also notes that as an experienced cell-ag company, it can assert that cell-based products offer significant health, environmental and ethical advantages.

“[Bene Meat Technologies] is convinced that there are no substantive reasons for Italy’s action.”

Last year, Bene Meat Technologies became the first company 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, it expects to launch its first product in the European market this year.

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