EU Clashes Over Novel Foods

EU ministers have had several heated debates over “novel foods“, an umbrella term that covers several types of food products, including edible insect-based food, lab-grown meats and plant-based alternatives to animal products.

European Commission data shows the consumption of vegan alternatives to meat, dairy and seafood has increased fivefold since 2011 and is expected to continue growing. The European Union has also authorised the sale of four species of insects, with at least eight applications in progress. As meat production is often reported as being harmful for our planet, these novel foods are portrayed as solutions in the fight against climate change. But, the battle for meat-free diets is pitting European cultural traditionalists against the food innovators.

Hungary VS Spain and Germany

For example, Hungary has taken a very clear position on this issue, arguing that it is necessary to protect European culinary traditions, as these veggie alternatives, edible insects or artificial lab-grown meat could threaten such traditions. According to the Hungarian presidency, these “novel foods” are not the solution to combating climate change, and products should always be marketed clearly without misleading consumers. The use of terms such as “sausage”, “steak”, and “milk” to describe plant-based products has sparked controversy in several countries, even reaching the EU’s highest court.

But media reporting shows this is not the view of ministers from the agricultural powerhouses of Spain and Germany, who have spoken out against Hungary’s stance, arguing that innovation and tradition can co-exist and that novel food options do not necessarily have to compromise the Union’s culinary culture. Some other member states expressed a position that was more in line with Hungary’s. For instance, Austrian Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig, a centre-right European People’s Party member, said the EU should ensure high-quality, traditional, and regional food production.

The Italian job

Italy is also against lab-grown meat, calling for an impact assessment and public consultation on this novel way of producing food. Together with Austria and France, Italy signed a document that was backed by nine other EU countries (Czechia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, and Slovakia) in January this year in the auspices of an EU Agriculture Council meeting in Brussels. They asked the European Commission to provide solid scientific information on these foods, before lab-grown meat is marketed in the EU. For Italy, a potential danger for consumers remains, as FAO and WHO released a report identifying 53 potential hazards associated with cell-based food.

For quite some time now, Italy has been at the forefront of efforts in Brussels to block any intervention to allow trade in lab-grown meat, and it passed a national law banning the production and sale of “synthetic food and feed“, even at the time of writing, no authorisation procedures concerning cultured or lab-grown meat have been submitted to the EU Commission so far.

The group of anti-fake meat countries have taken a firm stance against such food production technology, stressing that cell-based products cannot and should never be called “meat” and asking that lab-grown products are never promoted or confused with real food. Moreover, they cited studies that show a higher carbon footprint of lab-grown meat and a more energy-intensive process than traditional farming, with no real environmental advantages. In their call for an impact assessment, they specified that this assessment should address ethical, economic, social and environmental issues and questions of nutrition, health safety, food sovereignty and animal welfare.

All types of novel foods are required to undergo assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and to follow subsequent marketing authorisation processes by the European Commission. But at a recent Agricultural Minsters meeting, France proposed to create a committee to also gauge public feelings towards lab-grown meat as scientific approvals only tell part of the story.

Seeking the opinion of European citizens through public consultation is a necessary part of democratic decision-making, taking consumers’ wishes and choices into consideration. Freedom of choice is a good idea, but it’s better to ensure that their choices are well-informed.