麦当劳(McDonald’s)已淘汰掉菜单中一半左右的争议性配料，此举凸显了来自美国消费者的压力，正推动其本土饮食文化改变。

　　The $100bn fast-food chain said on Monday it had removed artificial preservatives from its Chicken McNuggets, sausage patties, omelettes, bagel and biscuit breakfast sandwiches and its scrambled eggs.

　　这家市值1000亿美元的快餐连锁店在周一表示，已停止在麦乐鸡、肉饼、煎蛋、贝果及脆饼早餐三明治，还有炒蛋中使用人造防腐剂。

　　It has swapped high-fructose corn syrup in its buns for sucrose and has met a pledge a year early to remove antibiotics important to human medicine from chickens it uses, amid concerns that these pose health risks. It is also working towards a goal of using only cage-free eggs by 2025, a move it said about 100 companies were following.

　　麦当劳还将小圆面包里的高果糖玉米糖浆换成了蔗糖，并提前一年兑现承诺，停止采购在饲养过程中使用人类抗生素的鸡肉产品，原因是这些材料形成的健康威胁引人担忧。麦当劳还在朝着一个目标努力：2025年前只使用散养鸡蛋，据麦当劳表示约有100家企业采取了这项举措。

　　Consumer demands for healthier food options, fewer artificial ingredients and more transparency in the food chain were until a few years ago met mostly by smaller innovative companies, which had to rely on a limited supply chain.

　　直到几年前，更健康的食品选择、更少的人工配料和更透明的食品链这类消费者需求，基本只有小型创新企业能满足，而它们不得不依靠有限的供应链。

　　However, spurred on by pressure from social media, those demands have been pushed into the mainstream, forcing McDonald’s and its rivals to make significant changes to the food they offer, and having a knock-on effect on companies such as Tyson in their supply chain.

　　但是在社交媒体压力的刺激下，上述需求已被推向主流，迫使麦当劳及其竞争对手大力改革所供产品，从而对泰森(Tyson)等企业的供应链造成连锁反应。

　　McDonald’s has faced criticism for not moving fast enough given that smaller rivals such as Chick-fil-A had already made similar moves, including banishing the use of all antibiotics in its chickens.

　　麦当劳已被指责行动不够迅速，Chick-fil-A这类规模较小的竞争对手早就采取了类似举动，包括禁止在鸡肉产品中使用一切抗生素。

　　But the sheer size of McDonald’s, with its 14,200 US restaurants, means that when it starts making such changes it has a far bigger impact on supply chains. After it introduced apple slices as a side dish in 2004, the group was soon purchasing 10 per cent of the domestic harvest.

　　但是麦当劳庞大的规模——在美国拥有1.42万家餐馆——意味着当它开始作出这类改变时，将对供应链产生大得多的影响。2004年麦当劳引入苹果片作为配菜后，该集团很快采购了全美10%的苹果产量。

　　McDonald’s said that while some of these changes create higher costs, it would not be passing them on to the consumer. It said it was able to offset those costs through savings in its purchases of other food commodities and by using financial hedging tools.

　　麦当劳表示虽然部分改变提高了产品成本，但它不会将成本提高转嫁给消费者。该公司表示自己能够通过节省食品采购费用，以及运用金融避险工具来抵消成本增加。

　　As farmers scale up to meet demands of a company as large as McDonald’s, and other companies make similar changes, prices are also expected to come down.

　　随着农民人数增加以满足麦当劳这类大企业的要求，加上其他企业也作出类似改变，成本价格也有望回落。

　　Mike Andres, president of McDonald’s USA, said the changes to its supply chain had posed challenges but he was pleased with the progress.

　　麦当劳美国市场负责人迈克?安德烈斯(Mike Andres)表示，公司供应链的改变虽带来了挑战，但他对这些改进感到很高兴。

　　“If you look at the food industry today, any time that you’re dealing with this many different suppliers, certainly from the farmers’ perspective, it’s going to be challenging,” he said.

　　他说：“如果你审视今日的食品行业，任何时候跟这么多家供应商打交道——当然从农民的角度——都是具有挑战性的。”

　　Marion Gross, senior vice-president of supply chain management, added that planning and collaboration with suppliers were vital so it could be sure the infrastructure was in place to scale up changes to its ingredients.

　　麦当劳供应链管理高级副总裁马里昂?格罗斯(Marion Gross)同时表示，与供应商的规划和合作极为重要，这样才可以肯定基础设施已经到位，从而让麦当劳对食材进行大规模改变。