原文標(biāo)題：
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，初創(chuàng)公司也能生產(chǎn)真奶制品
精準(zhǔn)發(fā)酵奶是否能夠取代植物奶？

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

它看起來(lái)像奶酪。聞起來(lái)像奶酪。它的味道像奶酪（特別像陳年巧達(dá)干酪）。而且它就是奶酪——至少在顯微鏡下是奶酪。

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

“合成乳制品”的原材料與傳統(tǒng)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.

但英國(guó)一家奶酪制造商 Better Dairy（3年前創(chuàng)立）并沒(méi)有從活體反芻動(dòng)物身上獲取主要原料，而是從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.

將微生物置于糖分中，然后它們將糖轉(zhuǎn)化為牛奶蛋白，這個(gè)過(guò)程類似于酒精釀造。

[Paragraph 2]
Plenty of milk alternatives have hit café counters and supermarket shelves in recent years.
近年來(lái)，大量牛奶替代品出現(xiàn)在咖啡館柜臺(tái)和超市貨架上。

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.
智庫(kù)“優(yōu)質(zhì)食品研究所” (GFI) 估計(jì)，以大豆、杏仁和燕麥等原料制成的植物奶占美國(guó)牛奶總銷量的15%，占西歐牛奶總銷量的 11%。

Yet lovers of real dairy, which plant-derived products cannot quite mimic, still need cows, goats and ewes.
然而，植物奶無(wú)法完全模仿真正的乳制品，牛奶愛(ài)好者們?nèi)匀恍枰膛?、山羊和母羊等?dòng)物產(chǎn)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“精準(zhǔn)發(fā)酵”公司希望改變這一現(xiàn)狀，且希望在全球9000億美元的乳制品市場(chǎng)中分一杯羹。

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Remilk, an Israeli startup, has recently received approval to sell its fare in America, Israel and Singapore.
Remilk是一家以色列初創(chuàng)公司，最近它獲得了在美國(guó)、以色列和新加坡銷售其產(chǎn)品的批準(zhǔn)。

Perfect Day, a Californian one, already sells synthetic milk, ice cream and cream cheese.
加州一家名為Perfect Day的公司已經(jīng)開(kāi)始銷售合成奶、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，該公司與食品巨頭雀巢公司和星巴克簽訂了蛋白質(zhì)銷售合同。

In its latest funding round two years ago it raised $350m, valuing it at $1.6bn.
在兩年前的最新一輪融資中，它籌集了 3.5 億美元，估值達(dá) 16 億美元。

All told, precision fermenters have raised nearly $3bn from investors since the start of 2021.
總之，自2021年初以來(lái)，精準(zhǔn)發(fā)酵企業(yè)已從投資者那里籌集了近30億美元。

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Synthetic dairy dispenses with certain undesirable aspects of milk and milk-making.
合成乳制品摒棄了牛奶和牛奶制造過(guò)程中某些不可取之處。

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?yàn)橛行┤藢?duì)乳糖過(guò)敏，而激素則與一些成人疾病有關(guān)。

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.
發(fā)酵罐不需要灌滿抗生素，且可以安裝在任何地方——在人們對(duì)糧食安全和氣候變化的擔(dān)憂日益加劇的今天，發(fā)酵產(chǎn)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).
與傳統(tǒng)乳制品生產(chǎn)相比，精準(zhǔn)發(fā)酵用水更少，而且由于所需的能源和土地更少，排放的溫室氣體也更少。而傳統(tǒng)乳制品所產(chǎn)生的溫室氣體排放量（其中很大一部分來(lái)自打嗝的牛）占每年全球溫室氣體排放量的 3% 以上，幾乎是航空業(yè)排放量的2倍。

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One challenge for the innovators is winning consumers’ trust. Steel tanks lack the familiarity of cows.
創(chuàng)新者們面臨的一個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)是如何贏得消費(fèi)者的信任。相比于奶牛，消費(fèi)者對(duì)發(fā)酵鋼罐更陌生。

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”).
美國(guó)一項(xiàng)調(diào)查顯示，1/4的受訪者不太愿意嘗試“精確發(fā)酵”食品（這或許可以解釋為什么生產(chǎn)商更愿意稱其為“不含動(dòng)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.
監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)也設(shè)置了障礙。盡管初創(chuàng)公司相信他們會(huì)獲得批準(zhǔn)——精準(zhǔn)發(fā)酵技術(shù)已經(jīng)用于生產(chǎn)調(diào)味品和胰島素——但他們擔(dān)心獲批需要很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間，也擔(dān)心標(biāo)簽爭(zhēng)議。

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.
根據(jù)GFI的數(shù)據(jù)，即使在美國(guó)這片自由企業(yè)的國(guó)度，也需要9個(gè)月左右的時(shí)間才能獲批。在歐洲，則需要2倍的時(shí)間才能獲批；第一批產(chǎn)品要到 2024 年才會(huì)進(jìn)入歐洲超市。

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The technology is also a work in progress.
精準(zhǔn)發(fā)酵技術(shù)也還在不斷發(fā)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公司的巧達(dá)干酪仍然使用牛酪蛋白，這是牛奶中的蛋白質(zhì)之一。該公司正在開(kāi)發(fā)一種合成奶酪，以制造真正的純素奶酪。

And the process remains costly. A fermenter that can hold about 30 litres of milk can cost ￡150,000 ($190,000).
而這一工藝的成本仍然很高。一個(gè)能裝 30 升牛奶的發(fā)酵罐需要 15 萬(wàn)英鎊（19 萬(wàn)美元）。

Buying a cow, which can produce about as much in a day, will set you back ￡1,600.
而購(gòu)買一頭牛只需要1600英鎊，且一天可以產(chǎn)出相同數(shù)量的牛奶。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語(yǔ)詞匯量551左右）
原文出自：2023年7月22日《The Economist》Business版塊

精讀筆記來(lái)源于：自由英語(yǔ)之路

本文翻譯整理: Irene本文編輯校對(duì): Irene
僅供個(gè)人英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)交流使用。

【補(bǔ)充資料】（來(lái)自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
植物奶Plant-Based Milk是用含蛋白質(zhì)和脂肪的植物種子（如大豆、核桃、花生等）或果實(shí)（如椰子等）制成的飲品。[2]研究顯示，植物奶的主要原料有燕麥、大米、板栗、大豆、杏仁和榛子等，因此含有一定的維生素、膳食纖維和礦物質(zhì)。但在鈣、蛋白質(zhì)、糖、飽和脂肪、維生素D2等物質(zhì)的含量上，植物奶的營(yíng)養(yǎng)價(jià)值遠(yuǎn)不及牛奶。

精準(zhǔn)發(fā)酵Precision Fermentation是一種利用基因編輯和合成生物學(xué)技術(shù)精確控制微生物發(fā)酵過(guò)程的新興技術(shù)。與傳統(tǒng)發(fā)酵方法相比，精準(zhǔn)發(fā)酵可以提高產(chǎn)品的生產(chǎn)效率和質(zhì)量，并減少對(duì)自然資源的依賴。精準(zhǔn)發(fā)酵技術(shù)在食品行業(yè)中得到了廣泛應(yīng)用。例如，可以通過(guò)基因編輯技術(shù)改變酵母菌的代謝途徑，使其產(chǎn)生更低糖或無(wú)糖的食品原料，滿足消費(fèi)者對(duì)健康食品的需求。此外，精準(zhǔn)發(fā)酵還可以用于生產(chǎn)植物蛋白、人造肉等替代動(dòng)物性產(chǎn)品的新型食品。精準(zhǔn)發(fā)酵技術(shù)還可以應(yīng)用于藥物和化妝品的生產(chǎn)。通過(guò)基因編輯和合成生物學(xué)技術(shù)，可以提高藥物的生產(chǎn)效率和純度，降低生產(chǎn)成本。

酪蛋白Casein是一種含磷鈣的結(jié)合蛋白，對(duì)酸敏感，pH較低時(shí)會(huì)沉淀。酪蛋白是哺乳動(dòng)物包括母牛，羊和人奶中的主要蛋白質(zhì)，又稱：干酪素、酪朊、乳酪素。α-酪蛋白是哺乳動(dòng)物的主要蛋白，人乳中沒(méi)有α-酪蛋白，以β-酪蛋白為主要酪蛋白形式。酪蛋白對(duì)幼兒既是氨基酸的來(lái)源，也是鈣和磷的來(lái)源，酪蛋白在胃中形成凝乳以便消化。

【重點(diǎn)句子】（3個(gè)）
These microbes are fed sugar, which they then convert into milk proteins in a process which is similar to brewing.
將微生物置于糖分中，然后它們將糖轉(zhuǎn)化為牛奶蛋白，這個(gè)過(guò)程類似于酒精釀造。

Synthetic dairy dispenses with certain undesirable aspects of milk and milk-making.
合成乳制品摒棄了牛奶和牛奶制造過(guò)程中某些不可取之處。

One challenge for the innovators is winning consumers’ trust. Steel tanks lack the familiarity of cows.
創(chuàng)新者們面臨的一個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)是如何贏得消費(fèi)者的信任。相比于奶牛，消費(fèi)者對(duì)發(fā)酵鋼罐更陌生。