Pasteurizing China's Grasslands and Sealing in Terroir

Technical innovations such as ultra–high temperature processing and aseptic packaging increase liquid milk's portability and its safety, making milk available to more consumers worldwide than in the past. Although intended to seal out threats to human health, these procedures also seal in other qualities. Drawing on ethnographic research with four of China's national dairy corporations and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region's certification office for China's trademarked “Green Food” products, I explore the conversion of place‐based qualities constructed as an inherent part of the land into products that can be packaged and moved across the nation. I demonstrate how qualities akin to that of the French term terroir are bundled together and thus enable their circulation with the physical product. 摘要 超高温处理和无菌包装等技术的进步 大大提升了液态奶的便携性和安全性 使得牛奶能够在更广泛的地区提供给更多的消费者。虽然这些处理的最初目的是为了避免人类健康遭受威胁 但实际上它也把一些其他品质一并封装留存。在运用民族志研究的方法对中国的民族乳业公司和内蒙古自治区的绿色食品认证机构进行描述后本文探析了液态奶是如何从具有“原产地品质”的一种地方特产 转变成为袋装并跨区域流通的一种全民消费品。本文还阐述了液态乳的各种小产区特色品质 即法语中的 “ terroir ” 是如何成功汇集在一起并在后续储运中得到保证的。关键词土特产 技科学 中国 乳业 流转