《经济学人》双语：合成牛奶是否能够取代植物奶？

原文标题：
A new big cheese
Startups are producing real dairy without a cow in sight
Can precision fermentation eat plant-based milk’s lunch?
新式大奶酪
不用奶牛，初创公司也能生产真奶制品
精准发酵奶是否能够取代植物奶？

[Paragraph 1]

IT LOOKS LIKE cheese. It smells like cheese. It tastes like cheese (specifically mature cheddar). And it is cheese—at least under the microscope.

它看起来像奶酪。闻起来像奶酪。它的味道像奶酪（特别像陈年巧达干酪）。而且它就是奶酪——至少在显微镜下是奶酪。

“Synthetic dairy” is made with the same ingredients as the conventional sort.

“合成乳制品”的原材料与传统乳制品相同。

But instead of getting the main ingredient from a live ruminant, Better Dairy, a three-year-old British cheesemaker, derives some of it from yeast.

但英国一家奶酪制造商 Better Dairy（3年前创立）并没有从活体反刍动物身上获取主要原料，而是从酵母中提取了部分原料。

These microbes are fed sugar, which they then convert into milk proteins in a process which is similar to brewing.

将微生物置于糖分中，然后它们将糖转化为牛奶蛋白，这个过程类似于酒精酿造。

[Paragraph 2]
Plenty of milk alternatives have hit café counters and supermarket shelves in recent years.
近年来，大量牛奶替代品出现在咖啡馆柜台和超市货架上。

Plant-based beverages made from things like soyabeans, almonds and oats make up 15% of all milk sales by value in America and 11% in western Europe, reckons the Good Food Institute (GFI), a think-tank.
智库“优质食品研究所” (GFI) 估计，以大豆、杏仁和燕麦等原料制成的植物奶占美国牛奶总销量的15%，占西欧牛奶总销量的 11%。

Yet lovers of real dairy, which plant-derived products cannot quite mimic, still need cows, goats and ewes.
然而，植物奶无法完全模仿真正的乳制品，牛奶爱好者们仍然需要奶牛、山羊和母羊等动物产的奶。

“Precision fermentation” companies like Better Dairy hope to change that—and take a fat slice of the $900bn global dairy market.
Better Dairy 等“精准发酵”公司希望改变这一现状，且希望在全球9000亿美元的乳制品市场中分一杯羹。

[Paragraph 3]
Remilk, an Israeli startup, has recently received approval to sell its fare in America, Israel and Singapore.
Remilk是一家以色列初创公司，最近它获得了在美国、以色列和新加坡销售其产品的批准。

Perfect Day, a Californian one, already sells synthetic milk, ice cream and cream cheese.
加州一家名为Perfect Day的公司已经开始销售合成奶、冰淇淋和奶油奶酪。

It recently signed contracts to sell its proteins to Nestlé, a food giant, and to Starbucks.
最近，该公司与食品巨头雀巢公司和星巴克签订了蛋白质销售合同。

In its latest funding round two years ago it raised $350m, valuing it at $1.6bn.
在两年前的最新一轮融资中，它筹集了 3.5 亿美元，估值达 16 亿美元。

All told, precision fermenters have raised nearly $3bn from investors since the start of 2021.
总之，自2021年初以来，精准发酵企业已从投资者那里筹集了近30亿美元。

[Paragraph 4]
Synthetic dairy dispenses with certain undesirable aspects of milk and milk-making.
合成乳制品摒弃了牛奶和牛奶制造过程中某些不可取之处。

Lactose, to which some people are allergic, and hormones, which have been linked to some adult diseases, can be stripped out.
例如，可以去除乳糖和激素，因为有些人对乳糖过敏，而激素则与一些成人疾病有关。

Fermentation tanks do not need to be pumped full of antibiotics and can be set up anywhere—handy at a time of rising worries about food security and climate change.
发酵罐不需要灌满抗生素，且可以安装在任何地方——在人们对粮食安全和气候变化的担忧日益加剧的今天，发酵产奶很方便。

The process uses less water and, because it requires less energy and less land, emits fewer greenhouse gases than conventional dairy production, which is responsible for more than 3% of annual planet-warming emissions, almost twice as much as aviation (and a lot of it from belchy cows).
与传统乳制品生产相比，精准发酵用水更少，而且由于所需的能源和土地更少，排放的温室气体也更少。而传统乳制品所产生的温室气体排放量（其中很大一部分来自打嗝的牛）占每年全球温室气体排放量的 3% 以上，几乎是航空业排放量的2倍。

[Paragraph 5]
One challenge for the innovators is winning consumers’ trust. Steel tanks lack the familiarity of cows.
创新者们面临的一个挑战是如何赢得消费者的信任。相比于奶牛，消费者对发酵钢罐更陌生。

A quarter of respondents to a survey in America aren’t keen to try “precision-fermented” fare (which may explain why producers prefer to call it “animal-free”).
美国一项调查显示，1/4的受访者不太愿意尝试“精确发酵”食品（这或许可以解释为什么生产商更愿意称其为“不含动物成分”）。

Regulators create hurdles, too. Although the startups are confident they will get the green light—the technique is already used for flavourings and insulin—they worry about the time this will take and about labelling disputes.
监管机构也设置了障碍。尽管初创公司相信他们会获得批准——精准发酵技术已经用于生产调味品和胰岛素——但他们担心获批需要很长时间，也担心标签争议。

According to GFI, even in America, the land of free enterprise, it takes about nine months. It Europe it takes twice as long; the first products will not reach European supermarkets until 2024.
根据GFI的数据，即使在美国这片自由企业的国度，也需要9个月左右的时间才能获批。在欧洲，则需要2倍的时间才能获批；第一批产品要到 2024 年才会进入欧洲超市。

[Paragraph 6]
The technology is also a work in progress.
精准发酵技术也还在不断发展中。

For now Better Dairy’s cheddar still uses bovine casein, one of the proteins in milk; the firm is working on a synthetic version that would make its cheese properly vegan.
目前，Better Dairy公司的巧达干酪仍然使用牛酪蛋白，这是牛奶中的蛋白质之一。该公司正在开发一种合成奶酪，以制造真正的纯素奶酪。

And the process remains costly. A fermenter that can hold about 30 litres of milk can cost £150,000 ($190,000).
而这一工艺的成本仍然很高。一个能装 30 升牛奶的发酵罐需要 15 万英镑（19 万美元）。

Buying a cow, which can produce about as much in a day, will set you back £1,600.
而购买一头牛只需要1600英镑，且一天可以产出相同数量的牛奶。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量551左右）
原文出自：2023年7月22日《The Economist》Business版块

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
植物奶Plant-Based Milk是用含蛋白质和脂肪的植物种子（如大豆、核桃、花生等）或果实（如椰子等）制成的饮品。[2]研究显示，植物奶的主要原料有燕麦、大米、板栗、大豆、杏仁和榛子等，因此含有一定的维生素、膳食纤维和矿物质。但在钙、蛋白质、糖、饱和脂肪、维生素D2等物质的含量上，植物奶的营养价值远不及牛奶。

精准发酵Precision Fermentation是一种利用基因编辑和合成生物学技术精确控制微生物发酵过程的新兴技术。与传统发酵方法相比，精准发酵可以提高产品的生产效率和质量，并减少对自然资源的依赖。精准发酵技术在食品行业中得到了广泛应用。例如，可以通过基因编辑技术改变酵母菌的代谢途径，使其产生更低糖或无糖的食品原料，满足消费者对健康食品的需求。此外，精准发酵还可以用于生产植物蛋白、人造肉等替代动物性产品的新型食品。精准发酵技术还可以应用于药物和化妆品的生产。通过基因编辑和合成生物学技术，可以提高药物的生产效率和纯度，降低生产成本。

酪蛋白Casein是一种含磷钙的结合蛋白，对酸敏感，pH较低时会沉淀。酪蛋白是哺乳动物包括母牛，羊和人奶中的主要蛋白质，又称：干酪素、酪朊、乳酪素。α-酪蛋白是哺乳动物的主要蛋白，人乳中没有α-酪蛋白，以β-酪蛋白为主要酪蛋白形式。酪蛋白对幼儿既是氨基酸的来源，也是钙和磷的来源，酪蛋白在胃中形成凝乳以便消化。

【重点句子】（3个）
These microbes are fed sugar, which they then convert into milk proteins in a process which is similar to brewing.
将微生物置于糖分中，然后它们将糖转化为牛奶蛋白，这个过程类似于酒精酿造。

Synthetic dairy dispenses with certain undesirable aspects of milk and milk-making.
合成乳制品摒弃了牛奶和牛奶制造过程中某些不可取之处。

One challenge for the innovators is winning consumers’ trust. Steel tanks lack the familiarity of cows.
创新者们面临的一个挑战是如何赢得消费者的信任。相比于奶牛，消费者对发酵钢罐更陌生。