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Cooking appliances that incorporate 3D printers, lasers, or other software-driven processes may replace traditional cooking appliances such as ovens, stoves, and microwaves. But would people want a 3D printer—even one as beautifully designed as a high-end coffee machine—on their kitchen counters to calibrate the micro- and macro-nutrients they need to stay healthy? Will 3D printing food improve the way we feed ourselves? What kinds of obstacles need to be overcome to commercialize such a technology?
Columbia’s mechanical engineers are working on these challenges at Professor Hood Lipson’s Creative Machines Lab. In a new Perspective article published today npj Food Sciencelead author Jonathan Plottinger, postdoctoral fellow in the lab, explores these questions and more, and discusses with Professor Christine Cooper, Pace University Nutrition and Dietetics, the advantages and disadvantages of 3D-printing food technology, and how 3D-printed food compares to “regular” food that We eat it, and the future landscape of our kitchens.
video: https://youtu.be/AhVfU71tb2k
Food printing technology has been around since Lipson Lab first introduced it in 2005, but until now the technology has been limited to a small number of uncooked ingredients, resulting in what many consider less than mouthwatering dishes. Blutinger’s team got around this limitation by printing a plate of seven cooked ingredients On site using a laser. For the paper, the researchers designed a 3D-printing system that makes cheesecake from edible food inks — including peanut butter, Nutella and strawberry jam.. The authors note that microprinting multi-layer food items can produce more customizable foods, improve food safety, and enable users to more easily control the nutritional content of meals.
“Because 3D printing of food is still a nascent technology, it needs an ecosystem of supporting industries such as food cartridge manufacturers, downloadable recipe files, and an environment in which those recipes are created and shared. Its customizability makes it particularly practical for the factory-based meat market. meat, as texture and flavor must be carefully formulated to mimic real meat.”
To demonstrate the potential of 3D printing food, the team tested different cheesecake designs, consisting of seven main ingredients: graham cracker, peanut butter, Nutella, banana puree, strawberry jam, cherry drizzle, and frosting. They find that the most successful design uses graham cracker as the base ingredient for each layer of the cake. Peanut butter and Nutella prove best used as supportive layers that form “pools” to hold the softer ingredients: bananas and jam. Multi-component designs evolved into multi-level structures that followed similar principles to building structures; More structural elements were required to support softer substrates for successful multicomponent printing.
“We have a huge problem with the low nutritional value of processed foods,” Cooper said. “3D printing food will still be processed foods, but perhaps the silver lining will, for some people, be better control and conditioning of feeding — personalized feeding. It may also be useful in making food more appealing to those with swallowing disorders by mimicking the shapes of real foods.” with the pureed foods that these patients — millions in the United States alone — need.”
Laser cooking and 3D printing food can allow chefs to define flavors and textures on a millimeter scale to create new food experiences. People with dietary restrictions, parents of young children, nursing home dietitians, and athletes alike can all find these personal techniques very helpful and convenient in meal planning. And because the system uses targeted, high-energy lighting for precision-engineered heating, cooking can be more cost-effective and more sustainable.
“The study also highlights that printed dishes of food will likely require new ingredient combinations and structures, due to the different way food is ‘assembled,’” Lipson said. “There is still a lot of work to do to collect data, model and optimize these processes.”
Plottinger added: “With an increased focus on food safety in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, food prepared with less human handling can reduce the risk of foodborne illness.
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