The sustainability of the traditional meat industry must be supported

At Friday’s food consumption-focused event called “Shaping consumers”, the State Secretary spoke about the necessity of providing consumers with full information about the products they choose, and that is why, according to Hungary, uniform EU-level regulation is also necessary for meat products. Dr. Márton Nobilis also pointed out that in recent years more and more foods have appeared on the market that were developed to replace meat. Laboratory meat, which is produced by growing animal tissues under artificial conditions, is not yet authorized in the European Union.

The production and marketing of laboratory meat raises many questions and concerns regarding safety, rural sustainability, economic and environmental impacts, and social inequalities. The state secretary added that representative surveys of the population show that consumer resistance to laboratory meat is extremely high. The 2023 survey by Nébih showed similar results, according to which the awareness of laboratory meat is high, but its acceptance is low, and in addition, the dominance of traditional meat consumption is still strong.