Austrian Petition “Lab Meat? No, thanks!” in the EU Parliament
Brussels – Foie gras imitation or lab-grown beef fat cells on the plate: According to EU Member of Parliament and ÖVP agricultural spokesman Alexander Bernhuber, the first approval procedures for this are already underway at the European Food Authority. With nearly 70,000 signatures, the petition “Lab Meat? No, thank you!”, initiated by the agricultural chambers of Carinthia and Styria, will be discussed on Tuesday in the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament. It seeks to halt the approvals.
The petition is personally presented and articulated in the European Parliament by the presidents of the agricultural chambers, Andreas Steinegger (Styria) and Siegfried Huber (Carinthia). Their common concern: the protection of regional agriculture and the preservation of high quality standards in European food production. They demand that the already initiated approval process for lab-grown meat products at the European Food Authority EFSA be immediately stopped by the EU Commission.
Small dairy farms threatened
During a signature campaign in the two federal states, 70,000 signatures were collected together, Huber said at a press conference on Monday in the Brussels EU Parliament. In countries like Austria or Italy, the position is clear, according to the Carinthian. He calls for a “political discussion” and “political pressure.” “Every competing product to our sustainable beef” puts agriculture under pressure and threatens small dairy farms with 15 or 20 cows, says his colleague Steinegger.
“The farms need to be able to live off something,” the Styrian sees food supply as endangered and therefore appeals for a “no” to the approval of lab-grown meat in the EU. He is also not convinced by the argument that meat products produced in a test tube could alleviate hunger in disadvantaged regions of the world. A few large corporations would then dominate the market: “Can someone in a disadvantaged part of the world buy that?”
“More processed than regular salami”
ÖVP agricultural spokesman Bernhuber also has ethical concerns; but this does not mean animal welfare. For him, it is important “to distinguish what is plant-based and what is animal-based? Animal-based is that cells multiply independently.” For lab-grown meat, cells taken from animal embryos are cloned and then grow in a test tube as “clumps that need energy and protein.” A salami produced this way is “even more processed than a regular salami.”
Regarding the environmental and health friendliness of lab-grown meat products, Bernhuber, who supports the petition, states that the production consumes a lot of energy and the long-term effects on the human body are not clarified. “Meat imitations from factories, which are bred with many artificial additives and enormous energy input, are an attack on comprehensive, family-run agriculture and forestry,” says organic farmer Steinegger.
Together with other members of the European Parliament, Bernhuber, Steinegger, and Huber demand EU-wide regulation for so-called cultivated meat products. Currently, there is a lack of scientific long-term studies that thoroughly clarify possible health impacts. Questions regarding labeling, origin, environmental balance, and ethical responsibility are also not sufficiently answered from the initiators’ perspective. (22.06.2025)
