Kozlova Daria
National university of food technologies
3D printer in the food industry
More than thirty years passed
since Chuck Hull
invented the first 3D-printer in 1983. Since then, the idea of printing things by this technology crossed
from fiction to reality, opening new opportunities of different spheres, from
science to art. Three-dimensional
printing becomes more and more popular in our live. Nowadays we can see printed
car, plane, even human organs have been printed by this machine. We can print
practically everything but the most interesting thing – use this new technology
in food industry.
First advantage of using 3D printer is edible raw. So
we use basic structure of different kind of food. It is proteins, fats and carbohydrates moreover we can improve enhance
properties and chemical formulation of all 3D food. We
have opportunity to add the
required amount of amino acids and
microelements.
The idea of printing any food with a 3D printer might
sound strange to lovers of cooking, but it could become commonplace in just a
few years and would provide an excellent solution to a lot of problems and be
able to be applied to many areas of the industry.
For example, one of the disadvantages of the food
industry is how damaging the production of food and other animal products is,
not only because it involves the slaughter and inhuman treatment of other
living things, but also because of the serious environmental impact due to the
large amounts of water required and the high levels of greenhouse
gases that are emitted. 3D printing could be the
solution to this problem, and Forgacs is already developing meat that can
be printed, which will taste the same as the original but will
not require animals to be raised and slaughtered.
This could also be revolutionary in the world of
nutrition because anyone could press a button and make a healthy, nutritious
and balanced dish, with the exact calorie count, which would be great for
people who need to follow strict diets.
NASA also thinks that 3D printing is the future,
especially to feed its astronauts when they leave the planet. This makes a lot
of sense because spacecraft don’t have much room to carry everything that they
need to eat pre-prepared. It’s also really hard to cook a full meal in zero
gravity and in such a confined space. For example, it would take years to
complete the mission of sending a group of astronauts to Mars, which would
require a lot of food to provide proper nutrition for them. 3D printing might
be the answer that could just make it possible for others, aside from the robot
Curiosity, to visit the red planet.
NASA has already financed a 3D printing project by a
company called Systems and Materials Research Corporation in Texas, which
announced its technology by printing a
pizza. With the $150,000 that NASA gave them, they will
have to customise the printer to create balanced, healthy and nutritious dishes
that would be needed for a long mission and that also completely eliminate the
generation of food waste.
A Barcelona start-up, Natural Machines has created a printer called the Foodini that is the first commercial
model designed to print food, and which could reach the Spanish market in early
2014 with an approximate price tag of ˆ1,000. The company believes that this
type of printers will create as much of an uproar as when microwave ovens hit
the market, and with everything that they can do, they are probably right.
Foodini is specialised in creating desserts, breads, pasta and even complete
vegetarian hamburgers.
The printer has six capsules that can be used to add
different ingredients that will be used to make the dishes. The capsules can’t
be used to hold liquids or solids, but they work great for dough. Foodini
doesn’t cook the food, but does prepare it with no waste.
After spending weeks with 3-D printing, I have no doubt it will change the
world in ways we can hardly imagine. Much of the change will be behind the
scenes, unobserved by consumers. Engineers foresee a lightweight largely
3-D-printed airplane that could cut fuel costs significantly. That savings will
(fingers crossed) be passed along to travelers.
But will there also be a revolution in our homes and kitchens? Will 3-D
printers transform our lives like the PC and Mac did? That remains to be seen.
It will be a battle between two forces: one, our love for ego-gratifying
stuff tailored to our every whim. And two, our built-in laziness. Will we make
the effort to print out a hexagonal ostrich burger with cucumber swirls (and
then clean the printer) when we can just get a Quarter Pounder at the
drive-through on the way home? I’m a techno-optimist, so I hope so.
In the meantime, I’d judge this the strangest and most memorable meal of my
life, and that includes a dinner party that featured vegan cow entrails.
Sources:
1. BloombergBusinessweek
2. http://3dprintingindustry.com/food/
3. Wikipedia.org
4. The New York Times
5.
Washington Post