真假难辨的人造肉汉堡来了！你敢吃吗？Burger King launches plant-based Whopper

Burger King is trialing a meat-free version of its famous Whopper, rolling out the new "Impossible Whopper" at 59 restaurants in St Louis.

汉堡王正在尝试推出新品："Impossible Whopper"，人造肉明星汉堡。圣路易斯的59家餐厅已经开始售卖这款人造肉汉堡了。

The meatless burger, developed with Impossible Foods, a California-based company that makes plant-based substitutes, is designed to "bleed" like a conventional burger, and uses genetically modified yeast to produce heme, a protein that mimics the flavor of meat.

人造肉汉堡是由一家总部位于加利福尼亚州的Impossible Foods公司研发的。该公司生产植物替代品，可以让“素肉”像传统肉汉堡一样“流血”，并使用转基因酵母来生产血红素让“素肉”更有肉味。

Burger King insists the new plant-based alternative tastes as good as the real thing.

汉堡王表示，人造肉汉堡的口感会和传统汉堡一样好。

Christopher Finazzo, the chain's North America president, said: "We've done sort of a blind taste test with our franchinees, with people in the office, with my partners on the executive team, and virtually nobody can tell the differences."

汉堡王北美区总裁Christopher Finazzo表示：“我们做过测试，包括我们的特许经营商、办公室里的员工、以及执行团队的合伙人们在内，几乎没有人能够分辨出人造肉汉堡和传统汉堡的区别。”

Burger King has offered a veggie burger for years. But the difference between the veggie option and the new no-meat Whopper may be that meat-eaters are more willing to try it. The chain says it will still put mayonnaise — which contains eggs — on the Whopper's twin and claims the meat-free patty is not only for those following a plant-based diet.

多年来，汉堡王一直卖素食汉堡，但素食汉堡和人造肉汉堡的区别可能是肉食者更愿意去尝试人造肉汉堡。汉堡王表示，将会在人造肉汉堡上涂抹蛋黄酱。汉堡王宣称，人造肉馅饼并不是仅仅适用于素食主义者。

White Castle, the US burger chain known for miniature "slider" burgers, currently sells Impossible Burger products in more than 370 restaurants, and the chain has reported better-than-expected sales.

White Castle，一家以微型汉堡"Slider"闻名的美国汉堡连锁品牌，目前在370多家餐厅销售人造肉汉堡。其销售情况好于预期。

Impossible Foods has at least one major competitor — Beyond Meat, which sells its Beyond Burger at Carl's Jr and A&W restaurants in Canada. Beyond Meat will be the first of Silicon Valley's new generation of food companies to go public.

Beyond Meat是Impossible Foods的主要竞品之一。它在Carl's Jr和加拿大的A＆W餐厅销售人造肉汉堡。在新一代硅谷公司中，Beyond Meat将第一个上市。

Its initial public offering this spring is expected to raise roughly $150 million, even as the company loses $29.9 million per year in efforts to expand.

有分析师告诉《卫报》，Beyond Meat将在今年春季首次公开募股1.5亿美元，尽管该公司每年因为扩张损失2990万美元。

Burger King's new burger may not please budget-conscious customers, though. It will sell the Impossible Burger for about a dollar more than the beef version — in part because of the difficulty plant-based companies have had matching cheap meat prices. Beyond Meat's burger is also more expensive than most beef alternatives.

汉堡王的人造肉汉堡可能不会让那些节俭的顾客满意。人造肉汉堡比牛肉版汉堡贵一美元。部分原因是肉价要比人造肉公司给出的价格更便宜。Beyond Meat的人造肉汉堡也比大多数牛肉汉堡要贵一些。

Impossible Foods' main pitch is for environmental sustainability. Intensive animal agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gas, water use and pollution.

Impossible Foods的主要卖点是有利于环境可持续发展。集约化动物农业是温室气体、用水和污染物的主要源头。

But the burger has not been immune from criticism.

但这不意味着人造肉汉堡就能免于批评了。

Genetically modified yeast, a lack of organic ingredients, processed soy, and a high saturated fat and salt content have concerned some critics. And the burger has been criticized by animal rights activists for testing products on rats. Cattle ranchers have also mounted opposition to Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat for selling patties in grocery stores in the same refrigerators as meat.

转基因酵母、有机成分的缺乏、加工大豆、高饱和脂肪和含盐量高都带来了一些批评。还有一些人批评人造肉汉堡用老鼠来测试产品。牛牧场主也反对零售商店将人造肉和肉类放在同一冷柜中。

Nestlé last week announced it would also try its hand at manufacturing a plant-based burger. It will launch the "Incredible Burger" in Europe and the "Awesome Burger" in the US this fall. 

雀巢上周宣布要尝试制造人造肉汉堡。据报道，雀巢将在今年秋季在欧洲推出"Incredible Burger"，在美国推出"Awesome Burger"。

Plant-based proteins are experiencing tremendous growth, per a report by Meticulous Research. This sector will exceed $10 billion by 2022, the report predicts, growing at 6.7 percent over the next five years.

根据Meticulous Research的调查报告，植物蛋白质行业正在大幅增长。报告预测，到2022年，这一领域的创收额将超过100亿美元。未来五年将增长6.7％。

"The plant-based protein market is driven by increasing awareness about the benefits of protein and growing demands for a protein rich diet, growing health and wellness trend, increasing consumers' focus on meat alternatives, growing demand from food and beverage industry, and various advancements in ingredient technologies such as microencapsulation," Meticulous Research noted in a press release.

“人们不断认识到了蛋白质的优点，对富含蛋白质的饮食需求日益增长。健康发展趋势的流行，消费者对肉类替代品的关注度不断提高，食品饮料行业持续增长的需求，以及材料技术方面的各种进步（如微胶囊），都促进了植物蛋白市场的繁荣，“Meticulous Research在新闻稿中指出。