OPINION: Your old mate notes that Italy's government has backed a bill that would ban laboratory-produced meat and other synthetic foods, a move it believes highlights Italian food heritage and health protection.
If the proposals go through, breaking the ban would attract fines of up to €60,000 (NZ $106,000).
The Italian farmers' lobby praised the move and has collected half a million signatures in recent months calling for protection of "natural food vs, synthetic food", and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has also signed.
Ministers have cited Italy's prized Mediterranean diet as their motivation for both measures.
The proposed bill came hard on the heels of a series of government decrees banning flour derived from insects such as crickets and locusts in pizza and pasta.