Italy prohibits lab-grown meat in nod to farmers
Italy is the world's first country safe from the social and economic risks of synthetic food," said Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida.
The vote in parliament was met by rallies for and against the ban.
At one point, a scuffle broke out between farmers and some MPs.
The head of the big Coldiretti farmers' organisation, Ettore Prandini, at one point confronted two MPs from the opposition More Europe party, calling them "criminals" for opposing the ban on lab-grown meat with placards that condemned it as "anti-scientific and anti-Italian".
One of the MPs, Benedetto Della Vedova, accused him of being a hooligan. Centrist colleagues called on the farmers' lobby to apologise and the president of the lower house of parliament, Lorenzo Fontana, said that "differences of opinion should never descend into forms of violence".
Despite the flare-up, parliament backed the bill by 159 votes to 53. Breaching the law would mean a fine of up to €60,000 (£52,000).
For now, the law will have little effect, as cultivated meat has so far only been approved for human consumption in Singapore and the US.
The EU has not yet given any lab-grown meat, described as "novel foods", the green light. If it does, however, Italy's new law could be challenged by the European Commission.
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