3D food printing will help to improve the food supply chain resilience against disruptions such as caused by pandemic crises.

 

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is having a tremendous effect on the current food system. The situation urges us to face many issues never experienced before, aimed at mitigating a multitude of sanitary and social risks. The current pandemic has affected the food system in many ways. Examples are significant changes in dietary habits and in the health status of people; the food chain is broken, which has an effect on food security (including making it difficult to find or to buy fresh food at affordable prices); unemployment or underemployment is rising due to the damages of the food sector; there is a lack of food-socialising events which has an effect on people’s mental status; and there are concerns about food safety. To mitigate all these issues, the implementation of innovative technologies urges.

Especially the effect on the food security and the concerns about food safety are relevant for restaurants.

Concerning the food safety, for its nature of a computer-aided technology 3DFP sustains social distancing as recommended rules in food site area. 3DFP may reduce the number of people touching food before consumption as well as inter-human contact when creating, shaping, testing, validating and manufacturing food products. Besides, 3DFP strongly sustains the decentralisation of food manufacturing, enabling to reduce the number of people involved in the food chain, thereby minimising food contacts. This is a positive result of using 3DFP. Concerning the food security, it is well-known that 3DFP can reduce the food shortage on this planet. This is because it doesn’t need a lot resources to produce.