3D Printing and its Application Insights in Food Industry

Introduction An individual needs to consume a meal containing a precise set of ingredients and appropriate nutritional values. 3D printing is a ground-breaking technology that can improve the nutritional value of meals and even address hunger issues in countries where fresh and affordable ingredients are inaccessible. The global food industry is adopting 3D printing technology to make food production more efficient and increasingly sustainable.

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What is 3D printing? 

3D printing is a technique used for the manufacture of three-dimensional objects with high accuracy and quality finishing in their dimensions. The technique finds applications in industries, including aviation, automotive, packaging, construction, pharmaceuticals, and food. In the food sector, 3D printing is widely investigated across areas, such as customized food designs, personalized and digitalized nutrition, simplified supply chain, and broadened source of available food material.

A 3D food printer comprises a foodgrade syringe or cartridge that holds material, a real food item, and deposits exact fractional layers through a food-grade nozzle directly onto a plate or other surface in a layer-by-layer additive manner (refer Exhibit 1). Another method is a mold-based method wherein 3D printing food machines are used to give shapes to a dough with the help of a hollow container or molding box (refer Exhibit 2). 3D printing requires hardware and software to work in collaboration. Advanced 3D food printers are equipped with userfriendly interfaces and pre-loaded recipes with designs that can be easily accessed by the computer or even with a mobile or IoT device.

There are a variety of foods manufactured using 3D printers. A few of them are listed in Table 1: