3-D printers are used for applications, such as prototypes, construction, and prosthetics. As people decide to revolutionize food through technology by producing less waste and customizing their meals, there must be a solution. The choice of customizing food enables the individual to pick what they like; in addition, reducing food waste helps save money and lowers the carbon footprint. What if food was 3-D printed? Is it possible?
Like 3-D printers, 3-D printed foods are printed using edible filament and layer-by-layer. The food scientist, Bryan Quoc Le, mentioned “Much like how Lego blocks can be used to build structures of nearly any shape, 3D printing foods allows manufacturers to have greater control over the final shape, nutrition and taste characteristics of the product.” These filaments can be made from oils, mashed potato mix, cell-cultured meat, and chocolate for chocolate designs.
The ultimate pro to 3-D printing food is its freedom of creativity and customizability. “ An operator can control the shape, structure, flavor profile, and nutritional stability of a dish by integrating different ingredients into the 3D-printing process.” Therefore, it can help meet nutritional needs and is suitable for picky eaters.
3-D printing food reduces food waste and thus revolutionizes the food industry. An example is pureeing leftover produce that would be thrown out if it is unused. The puree of leftover produce creates endless possibilities for the food base.
3-D printed food tastes like real food. The edible filament determines the taste of the 3-D printed food. For example, if you put a chocolate filament in a 3-D printer, you will get chocolate. So the main idea is what goes in is what comes out.
A 3-D printer for food is expensive. According to Aniwaa, “Food 3D printers are a bit expensive, generally in a price range between $1,000 and $5,000.” This estimate does not even count for the ingredients used. Therefore, it would be cheaper for mass production instead of personal use.
A few ingredients are suitable for printing food because it is a new concept. However, there is a possibility that the list of ingredients will expand due to further research. If there are more possible ingredients, then it allows greater customizability.
A 3-D printer cannot perform all the tasks to build a meal. For instance, it can’t help you sprinkle seasonings on your pasta. (It could make the pasta, though.) 3-D printers are good for creating the base but not the whole meal.
At Steakholder Foods, they print meat by taking a bio “ink” containing living stem cells and biomaterials. After, the bio “ink” is used to print the shape of the meat, for example, steak. Finally, the meat goes into an incubator for the cells to separate into muscle and fat cells.
They also 3-D print plant-based fish alternatives using a gel-based material of alginates, vegetable proteins, seed oils, etc. Then, the fillet is printed layer by layer to replicate the texture and taste. However, these plant-based fish alternatives have far less protein with an astonishing 7g per plant-based white fish fillet.
BluRhapsody, a project run by Barilla, creates pasta using 3-D printers. The pasta is printed using semolina flour, water, and natural color extracts. The printers could print a variety of shapes of pasta: petals, hearts, roses, bunnies, and even text!
ChocEdge is the pioneer of commercial-grade 3-D printed chocolate. They use a chocolate filament to create elaborate and customizable designs for customers. To create the chocolate designs, a code is generated by a program named “slicer,” which analyzes the layers and produces the printing instructions.
