Italy could be fined for banning lab-grown meat

The law prohibits the production, sale and consumption of laboratory-produced foods “from cell cultures or tissues obtained from vertebrate animals.”

Factories that break the new rules will be fined up to €150,000 (£131,000) and risk being closed, with owners losing eligibility for government funding for up to three years.

The law was passed by Italy's lower house of parliament on Thursday and has already been approved by the Senate.

The bill was introduced by Francesco Lollobrigida, minister of agriculture and “food sovereignty” in the right-wing government of Georgia Meloni. Mr Lollobrigida said approval of the law would “put Italy at the forefront of the world”.

“We are proud to be the first country to ban it,” he said.