【精英翻譯】的部落格

Meat Made Out of Thin Air

憑「空」生肉新技術，減碳愛地球

精英翻譯設轉自https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0058/352294/web/

Although meat is a tasty source of protein, raising livestock is damaging the planet primarily through the production of greenhouse gases. This has inspired food scientists to search for more environmentally friendly proteins, like peas and insects. But of all the new protein sources out there, none is as interesting─and surprising─as the one an American company has found.

雖然肉類是蛋白質美味的來源，但飼養牲畜正在危害地球，主要是因為產生了溫室氣體。這啟發了食品科學家尋找對環境更友善的蛋白質，像是豌豆和昆蟲。但在所有新的蛋白質來源中，沒有一個和一間美國公司發現的一樣有趣又令人驚訝。

The company is called Air Protein, and as you can guess, they make protein out of thin air. To do this, they feed CO2 to microorganisms, which transform the gas into protein through a process that’s similar to how milk is turned into yogurt. The end result is a powder that’s full of protein. This pale brown powder has no smell and is completely tasteless. It may not sound delicious, but because it’s tasteless, the protein can be added into nearly any food─from cereal to pasta and fake meat.

這間公司叫作Air Protein（空氣蛋白質），正如你猜得到的，他們用空氣製造出蛋白質。為了做到這點，他們餵食微生物二氧化碳，微生物透過類似將牛奶變成優格的過程將這種氣體轉化為蛋白質。最後的結果是一種富含蛋白質的粉狀物質。這種淡褐色的粉末沒有氣味而且完全沒有滋味。聽起來可能不是很美味，但因為沒有味道，這種蛋白質幾乎可以添加到任何食物中——從麥片到義大利麵食和人造肉都行。

One great thing about this process is that it uses up much fewer resources than livestock. But the most amazing thing is that it has a net-zero carbon footprint. Who would have thought that eating meat could actually help the planet instead of hurting it?

這個過程最棒的一點是它所消耗的資源比牲畜少很多。但最令人驚奇的是它是零碳足跡。誰會想到吃肉其實可以幫助地球而不是傷害地球呢？