Future developments of 3D food printing

 

3D food printing is an emerging technology that has the potential to revolutionize the food industry. From the lab to your kitchen, printers such as the ChefJet^TM are rolling out to consumers this year. However, 3D printing of food is mainly a novelty; current printing technology is limited by cost, time, and amount of production on a large scale. Baking a single cookie can take an hour, and today's commercial printers usually cost upwards of $4000 (Bloomberg 2014). Thus, it is important to note that 3D printing is not a replacement for conventional food manufacturing; rather, it is a way to customize and optimize foods for mass production by efficiently making foods with improved textures, flavors, and appearances. Here are some possible future developments of 3D food printing:

1.    - Personalized Nutrition: 3D food printing can be used to create personalized meals and snacks that meet an individual’s nutritional requirements based on their age, weight, gender and health condition. This can help people with dietary restrictions or special dietary needs.

2.      - Sustainability: 3D food printing can help reduce food waste by using only the required amount of ingredients to produce a meal or snack. Additionally, it can use alternative sources of protein, such as algae, insects, or cultured meat, which can reduce the environmental impact of animal agriculture.

3.   - Food safety: 3D food printing can ensure food safety by eliminating contamination risks during the food production process. This technology can also reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses by using pasteurized and sterilized ingredients.

4.     - Enhanced flavor and texture: 3D food printing can create complex and intricate shapes, textures and flavors that are not possible with traditional food manufacturing techniques. This can enhance the dining experience and provide a new level of creativity in culinary arts.

5.     - Space exploration: 3D food printing can be used to provide food for long duration space missions. This technology can produce nutritious and tasty meals for astronauts using limited resources.

In short, 3D food printing has the potential to transform the food industry by providing innovative solutions to various challenges such as sustainability, food safety and nutrition.

3D Food Printing: A Taste of the Future - Lin - 2015 - Journal of Food Science Education - Wiley Online Library