Given the absence, presently, of specific legislation at the European level, it was decided to intervene in a precautionary manner at the national level to protect interests relating to health and cultural heritage. In particular, the draft legislation aims to protect human health by laying down a prohibition on the production and marketing of synthetic foods in implementation of and respecting the precautionary principle set out in Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002.

The draft aims to introduce a prohibition on the production and marketing of food and feed consisting of, isolated from or produced from cell cultures or tissues derived from vertebrate animals, as well as a prohibition on the designation of processed products containing vegetable proteins as meat.