"With my colleague Schillaci, we proposed to the Meloni government-which enthusiastically approved-a measure to safeguard our citizens from the risk of seeing on the market or on their tables a product that has not been adequately tested. A laboratory product that is potentially dangerous to health, certainly dangerous for our agricultural and livestock production. A risk that puts us all in a position to safeguard our development model, defending our workers, our businesses and our culture that is also linked to food and wine production."
Thus to AGRICOLAE Masaf Minister Francesco Lollobrigida on the sidelines of the presentation of the bill banning the production and marketing of synthetic food and feed in Italy.
This is not a choice aimed at defending Italian products, but a choice aimed at defending good quality food. We do not give in to the choice of someone who, in order to solve the problem of food safety, wants to produce lab-made, standardized, poor-quality food and then spread it to the poorest.
Italy must increasingly be a leader on food systems. In Europe we want to lead this game, trying to convince more and more colleagues. The Mediterranean area has taught the world what is considered civilization, and from the food point of view we can continue to do so.
Today I met with my French colleague to whom I reminded that Italy, France and Spain have taught the world what is considered the civilization of the world and we believe from the food point of view that we can continue to do so"
ART. 1
(Purpose and definitions)
1. This law lays down provisions aimed at ensuring the protection of human health and the interests of citizens as well as preserving the agri-food heritage, as a set of products that are an expression of the process of socio-economic and cultural evolution of Italy, of strategic importance to the national interest.
2. For the purposes of this law, the definitions set forth in Articles 2 and 3 of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of January 28, 2002, as well as national European provisions on food and feed names and labeling shall apply.
ART. 2
(Ban on the production and marketing of synthetic food and feed)
1. Based on the precautionary principle referred to in Article 7 of Regulation (EC) 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of January 28, 2002, it is prohibited for food business operators and feed business operators to use in the preparation of food, drinkand feed, sell, hold for sale, import, produce for export, administer or distribute for food consumption, food or feed consisting of, isolated from or produced from cell cultures or tissues derived from vertebrate animals.
ART. 3
(Authority for controls)
1. The Ministry of Health, the regions, the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano, the Local Health Authorities, the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Health, through the dependent Nuclei Antisofisticazione, the Carabinieri Forestry, Environmental and Agri-food Units Command (C.U.F. A),through the dependent Commands, the Department of the Central Inspectorate for the Protection of Quality and Fraud Repression of Agri-food Products (ICQRF) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, the Guardia di Finanza Corps and Customs and Monopolies Agency, as well as, for products of the seafood chain, the Corps of the Port Authorities-Coast Guard, each for the profiles of their respective competences, carry out the controls on the application of this law.
2. The provisions of Chapter I, Sections I and II, of Law No. 689 of November 24, 1981, shall be applied for the detection of violations and the imposition of penalties under this Law. Reduced payment under Article 16 of Law No. 689 of 1981 is not allowed.
3. For the violations referred to in Article 2 of this Law, the authorities competent to receive the report referred to in Article 17 of Law No. 689 of 1981 shall be those referred to in Article 2 paragraphs 1 and 3 of Legislative Decree No. 27 of February 2, 2021, according to their respective profiles of territorial and subject matter jurisdiction.
ART. 4
(Penalties)
1. Unless the act constitutes a crime, food business operators and feed business operators who violate the provisions of Article 2 shall be subject to an administrative fine of a minimum of 10,000 euros up to a maximum of 60,000 euros or 10 percent of the total annual turnover achieved in the last fiscal year closed prior to the ascertainment of the violation,when that amount is more than 60,000 euros. However, the maximum penalty may not exceed 150,000 euros. The violation is followed by the confiscation of the illicit product, the application of the administrative sanctions of the prohibition of access to contributions, financing or facilities or other disbursements of the same type, however denominated, granted or disbursed by the State, other public bodies or the European Union for the conduct of business activities, for a minimum period of one year and up to a maximum of three years, as well as the closure of the production plant, for the same period.
2. The same penalty shall be imposed on anyone who has financed, promoted, facilitated in any way the conduct referred to in Article 2.
3. In determining the administrative pecuniary sanctions provided for in this Law, the competent authority shall take into account the seriousness of the act, the duration of the violation, the work done by the agent for the elimination or mitigation of the consequences of the violation, as well as the economic conditions of the same.
ART. 5
(Postponement and updating of sanctions)
1. For matters not provided for in this Law, the provisions of Law No. 689 of 1981 shall apply.
2. The amount of the administrative pecuniary penalties provided for in this law shall be updated every two years, on the basis of changes in the national consumer price index for the entire community, as measured by ISTAT, by decree of the Minister of Economy and Finance, in consultation with the Ministers of Health and Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry.
ART. 6
(Financial invariance clause)
1. No new or increased burdens on public finance shall result from the implementation of this law.
2. The administrations concerned shall carry out the activities provided for in this law with the human, financial and instrumental resources available under current legislation.
This law, bearing the seal of the State, shall be included in the Official Compendium of Legislative Acts of the Italian Republic. It is incumbent on any person to whom it pertains to observe it and have it observed.
Cibo sintetico, ecco il ddl che ne vieta produzione e immissione sul mercato. Il testo