“为了吃鸡胸或鸡翅而养一整只鸡？我们要在合适的条件下分开养这些部位。” 尽管人造肉产业未来发展潜力巨大，但仍有许多问题与挑战亟待解决，首先是公众认知，其次是价格，人造肉走向寻常百姓家还有很长一段路要走。
You Eat Meat From Factory Farms。 Why Not a Lab？
Amanda Little | Bloomberg
Soaring beef prices， a new E。 coli recall， and a recent swine fever outbreak have added to a growing pile of evidence that the grossly over-consolidated meat industry is in need of a new model。 This piece of our global food supply must be reformed – and thoroughly reimagined – before it becomes any more unreliable or environmentally costly。
不断飙升的牛肉价格，新一次大肠杆菌召回事件，以及最近爆发的猪瘟疫情，这一切证据都表明，过度整合的肉类行业需要一种新的模式。我们必须对全球粮食供应的这一部分进行改革，而且是彻底的革新，以免它变得越来越不可靠或环境成本更高。
While plant-based substitutes have been gaining considerable marketshare over the past year， industrial meat and seafood will need a bigger savior than garden patties （or Tunato） that try to mimic the flavor and texture of the real thing。 We’ve got one good candidate in lab-grown meat — aka “cultured meat” or “cellular agriculture”— an emerging frontier that has enormous potential to become the foundation of a humane， climate-smart future protein supply。 虽然植物替代品在过去一年里获得了相当大的市场份额，但工业肉类和海鲜将需要一个比试图模仿真肉味道和质地的花园肉饼（或金枪鱼）更大的救世主。 我们在实验室培育的肉类中有一个很好的替代品——也就是“人造肉”或“细胞农业”——这是一个新兴的前沿领域，有巨大的潜力能成为人道的、气候环保型的未来蛋白质供应的基础。
Though created in a vat， cultured products are indistinguishable from animal products on a cellular level， and as nutritious — without the environmental and moral burdens of raising animals to kill and eat。 But to actually succeed， cultured meat must overcome two major obstacles： pricing and consumer doubt。
虽然人造产品是在实验室中制造的，但从细胞层面来讲，它们与动物产品没有什么区别，而且同样有营养——更没有饲养动物以供宰杀和食用所带来的环境和道德的负担。但要真正获得成功，人造肉必须克服两个主要的障碍：价格和消费者的疑虑。
Industry pioneers have shown extraordinary progress in recent years making their products technologically viable。 As conventional beef prices have risen， the production costs of cellular agriculture have been plunging， and the process is dramatically more efficient than breeding livestock。 A cultured beef product， for example， can be grown and ready for market within three weeks， compared with the 18 to 24 months it takes to raise a steer for slaughter。 Moreover， indoor lab facilities can be located near urban centers， localizing supplies and reducing the threat of disruption。
近年来，行业先驱取得了巨大的进步，技术上已经没有障碍。随着传统牛肉价格的上涨，细胞农业的生产成本一直在下降，这一过程比饲养牲畜的效率要高得多。例如，人造牛肉产品可以在三周内长成并上市，而饲养一头供屠宰的牛需要18到24个月。此外，室内实验室设施可以位于城市中心附近，实现供应的本地化，并降低供应中断的风险。
The category is growing fast。 Global investment in this new sector rose six-fold to $3.2 billion in 2020。 Startups have proliferated from about a dozen worldwide in 2017 to more than 100 today， drawing investors from billionaire Bill Gates to Tyson Foods Inc。 The first wave of lab-grown products could be hitting the U.S。 market by early next year。
这一行业目前增长迅猛。2020年，全球对这一新领域的投资增长了6倍，达到32亿美元。创业公司从2017年的十多家激增到今天的100多家，吸引了亿万富翁比尔·盖茨（Bill Gates）和泰森食品公司（Tyson Foods Inc。）进军这一行业。实验室培育的第一波产品可能会在明年初进入美国市场。
Prices， which are sky-high now， will eventually become more affordable as the industry scales up production。 So the biggest hurdle to long-term success will be getting the marketing right。
随着生产规模的不断扩大，目前高得离谱的价格也会变得越来越亲民化。因此，从长远来看，其成功的最大障碍将是营销。
Consumers will trust and adopt cultured meat products only if industry leaders establish effective communication strategies from the get-go。 The average person right now has only the vaguest idea of what “lab meat” even is — and it sounds anything but delectable。 只有行业领导者从一开始就建立起有效的沟通策略，消费者才会信任并采纳人造肉制品。目前，普通人对“实验室的肉”究竟是什么只有最模糊的概念，而且听起来一点也不美味。
Getting the Name Right
如何命名是门大学问 The industry should collectively agree to use a consistent and more appetizing nomenclature。 Right now， some companies are calling their products “cultivated” or “cell-based” meats， while others use the term “no-kill meats。” Industry pioneers would do well to jettison all that terminology in favor of something far simpler， like “clean meats。”
整个行业应该使用一致的、更有吸引力的宣传术语。现在，一些公司将他们的产品称为“培育”肉或“细胞”肉，而另一些公司则使用“非屠宰肉”这个术语。行业先驱最好抛弃所有这些术语，改用更简单的词，比如“清洁肉”。
At a time when consumers have already come to trust “clean energy，” cultured meats should be considered the protein equivalent。 There are conflicting estimates on the environmental benefits of clean meats， given that there are still so many unknowns （the energy demands， for example， will improve as production scales）。 But one study published in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology found that cultured meat involves up to 40% less energy use， 99% lower land use， and about 85% lower greenhouse gas emissions as well as consuming 90% less water compared with meat conventionally farmed in Europe。
在消费者已经开始相信“清洁能源”的时候，人造肉应该被认为是蛋白质的等价物。考虑到仍有许多未知因素（例如，随着生产规模的扩大，能源需求将会提高），关于清洁肉类的环境效益存在相互矛盾的预期。但发表在《环境科学与技术杂志》（Journal of Environmental Science and Technology）上的一项研究发现，与欧洲传统养殖的肉类相比，人造肉可以减少高达40%的能源消耗，减少99%的土地使用，减少约85%的温室气体排放，同时减少90%的水消耗。
Cultured meats can also be clean from a human-health standpoint。 They‘re free of bacterial contamination such as E.coli from fecal matter， which routinely gets mixed into meats in slaughterhouses， and they’re potentially lower in cholesterol and saturated fats， the presence of which can be controlled as the meats are cultivated。 从人类健康的角度来看，人造肉也是非常清洁的。它们不受粪便中的大肠杆菌等细菌污染，而大肠杆菌通常会混入屠宰场的肉类中，而且它们的胆固醇和饱和脂肪含量可能更低，在肉类养殖过程中，这些脂肪的占比可以得到控制。
The better consumers understand the production process behind clean meats， the more they‘ll begin to trust these products。 Scientists have learned to grow any kind of protein， be it chicken or yellowtail fish or Wagyu beef， starting with a small sample of muscle and fat cells removed in a biopsy-like procedure from a live or recently dead animal。 The cells are given a controlled environment inside a vat， or bioreactor， to do what cells naturally do： replicate。 The bioreactor， is really just a sophisticated Crockpot in which cell cultures are fed the special brew of nutrients and oxygen they need to grow — the same nourishment given to living organisms。
消费者对清洁肉的生产过程了解得越透彻，他们就越相信这些产品。科学家们已经学会了培育任何一种蛋白质，无论是鸡、黄尾鱼还是日本和牛，都是从活的或最近死去的动物的一小部分肌肉和脂肪细胞样本开始的。在大桶或生物反应器内，细胞在一个可控的环境下，做细胞自然做的事情：繁殖。生物反应器，实际上就是一个复杂的Crockpot（克罗克电锅），细胞培养物会得到它们生长所需的特殊营养和氧气——与生物有机体相同的营养。 In fact， this isn’t newfangled technology at all： Scientists have been growing animal tissues for decades for medical applications， such as life-saving heart valves。 And long before medical experts were doing this work， prominent public figures had recognized the inherent inefficiency of industrial live-animal farming for meat production。 Winston Churchill wrote in 1931： “We shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing， by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium。”
实际上，这并不是一项新技术：几十年来，科学家们一直在培育动物组织用于医学应用，比如拯救生命的心脏瓣膜。早在医学专家开始这项工作之前，杰出的公众人物就已经认识到，用于肉类生产的工业活畜养殖固有的低效率。温斯顿·丘吉尔（Winston Churchill）在1931年写道：“我们要避免为了吃鸡胸或鸡翅而养一整只鸡的荒谬做法，我们要在合适的条件下分开养这些部位。”
Products will likely be featured on restaurant menus before they’re regularly available in grocery stores， a market with a steeper learning curve。 That’s been the strategy in Singapore， which became the first country to approve cultured meats for commercial sale in December。 San Francisco-based Eat Just Inc。 debuted its cell-based chicken dishes in a few restaurants at prices ranging from $17 to the low $20s。 Though apparently discounted considerably， that’s still higher than most people will be willing to pay for what amounts to chicken nuggets。 The priority right now is just to educate the consumer。
这些产品很可能会率先出现在餐厅的菜单上，然后才会在杂货店上架，这需要一个过程。这就是新加坡的策略，去年12月，新加坡成为第一个批准人造肉类商业销售的国家。位于旧金山的Eat Just Inc。在几家餐厅首次推出了人造鸡肉菜品，价格从17美元到20美元不等。虽然明显打了很大折扣，但这仍然高于大多数人愿意为鸡块支付的价格。当务之急是提高消费者的认知。
Global Ambitions
开拓全球市场
The production of cultured seafoods， poultry and beef is already beginning to spread worldwide。 Eat Just recently raised $200 million to expand， and has been valued at $1.2 billion。 The startup Wildtype is now producing sushi-grade cultivated salmon at a pilot plant in San Francisco。 Singapore’s Shiok Meats is beginning to scale its lab-grown shrimp and crab production。 Israel’s Aleph Farms just raised $105 million to produce cultured beef， and Rehovot， Israel-based Future Meat Technologies recently opened a factory that will have the capacity to produce 1，100 pounds of cultured chicken， pork and lamb daily。
人造海产品、家禽和牛肉的生产已经开始在世界范围内推广。Eat Just最近筹集了2亿美元用于扩张，目前估值为12亿美元。初创公司Wildtype目前在旧金山的一家试验工厂生产寿司用的人造三文鱼。新加坡的Shiok Meats开始扩大人造虾和蟹的生产规模。以色列的Aleph农场刚刚筹集了1.05亿美元用于生产人造牛肉，而该国的未来肉类技术公司（Future Meat Technologies）最近在雷霍沃特（Rehovot）开设了一家工厂，每天可生产1100磅的人造鸡肉、猪肉和羊肉。 In the coming months， Upside Foods （formerly Memphis Meats） is expected to open a large production facility in the San Francisco Bay Area。 Chief Executive Officer Uma Valeti has grown his company from two to 125 employees， raised more than $200 million in funding from investors including Whole Foods Market founder John Mackey， and brought down his cost of production substantially — by a factor of 1，000 — since 2015。 His company served me my first plate of lab meat in 2018： a delicately seasoned duck breast， pan-seared on a bed of radicchio with orange vinaigrette， harvested fresh from the bioreactor。 It tasted indistinguishable from meat because it is meat — just grown without the bones， organs， hide， feathers， hooves， and of course， the sentience。 Valeti told me recently his cultivated chicken could initially sell in the U.S。 at a price competitive with premium chicken products （about $10-$12 per entrée serving）。
在接下来的几个月里，美国上行食品公司（上行食品公司的前身是Memphis Meats）预计将在旧金山湾区开设一家大型生产工厂。首席执行官Uma Valeti将他的公司从2名员工发展到125名员工，从包括Whole Foods Market创始人John Mackey在内的投资者那里筹集了超过2亿美元的资金，自2015年以来，他的生产成本大幅降低了1000倍。2018年，他的公司给我端上了我的第一盘人造肉：精心调味的鸭胸肉，用平底锅煎着，上面放着从生物反应器中新鲜收获的菊苣和橙子醋汁。它尝起来和肉没什么区别，因为它就是肉——只是生长时没有骨头、器官、皮、羽毛、蹄，当然，也没有感觉。Valeti最近告诉我，他培育的鸡肉最初可以在美国以与优质鸡肉产品竞争的价格出售（每盘小菜的价格约为10-12美元）。 No matter how needed， cellular agriculture will be doomed if it doesn’t get its messaging right。 Ultimately， industry leaders need to convince consumers that their products are not only clean and natural， they’re traditional more than science fiction。 Executives must communicate clearly to the marketplace that clean meats reimagine an old idea using new technology， and usher in a solution whose time has come。
无论多么需要，如果不能正确宣传和了解，细胞农业将难逃厄运。最终，行业领导者需要说服消费者，他们的产品不仅是清洁和天然的，而且是传统的，不是天马行空的。高管们必须清楚地向市场传达这样的信息：清洁肉是穿新鞋走老路，并引入可行的方案让公众接受它。
