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How Food Printing Can Revolutionize The Way We Eat

2020-08-12T00:46:10.067Z


3D printers are already used to produce objects, but some researchers have started to develop custom food solutions that could help the elderly and children


3D printers are currently used to produce certain objects, but some researchers have begun to explore how to develop personalized food solutions using this technology, so that older people, for example, can consume some products that do not they can enjoy the traditional way. 3D printing allows you to deconstruct food, modify its nutritional content, reconstruct it again by printing and present it in any way you want, in a way that is familiar to you.

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Special attention is paid to the case of the elderly. The world's population is growing, but it is also aging rapidly, therefore there is an urgent need to analyze the food and nutrition needs for this particular group. The proportion of people over 65 is expected to have increased from 25% to 40% by 2030.

"Difficulty swallowing and chewing, along with loss of appetite and changes in the perception of taste and smell, are important factors in the prevalence of malnutrition in the elderly and the consequent appearance of diet-related non-communicable diseases", alert Berta Álvarez, director of R&D projects at Biozoon, a company based in Germany that works on the creation of innovative concepts of foods with modified texture specially designed for the care of the elderly, or those with chewing and swallowing problems.

Dysphagia affects more than a third of elderly living in nursing homes and impairs their ability to consume normal foods, which is why older people often refuse meals, eat very small portions, and prefer easy-to-eat foods, to the detriment of those that provide the nutrients they need in the right amounts, he adds. The texture is adapted to be easier to swallow and also allows the amount of sugar, salt and fat to be calibrated, as food preparation remains the traditional way. As Álvarez says, "the idea is that dishes such as pork with potatoes can be printed on a large scale directly on a plate with 3D printers located in the kitchens of nursing homes".

3D printing allows you to deconstruct and modify the nutritional content of foods, before reconstructing them again by printing and presenting them in the desired way

In 2007, the Food Innovation and Resource Center was born in Asia as a joint initiative between the Singapore Polytechnic institution and the Enterprise Singapore government agency, to provide food companies with technical expertise in the development of new products and processes, including packaging. , life assessment, market testing and automation.

Evelyn Ong, Senior Project Manager, explains: "There are many factors that affect the nutritional needs of each individual and it is difficult to have a personalized menu for each person due to limitations in current processing methods." So your team is trying to address unmet needs by combining nutrition and food expertise through 3D food printing.

Anrich3D, a spin-off of Nanyang Technological University, is also developing a personalized nutrition project based on the nutritional preferences of people of any age. Users can get nutritional information through an app to convert it into ingredient requirements and shape preferences. The project seeks its target consumers among people who want to take care of what they eat and also focus on the production of food for children. 

Anirudh Agarwal, founder of Anrich3D, argues that some foods, such as green leafy vegetables, whole grains and fruits, have an acquired taste for most little ones. However, if they 3D-print healthy ingredients in the shapes of their favorite characters, they are more likely to want to try some foods they reject.

"With enough shapes, we can create a narrative game where the little ones unlock new characters if they get a number of points after finishing the 3D printed meals and answer questions about the identification of the ingredients and their nutritional content," he says. Through this gamified experience , they are repeatedly exposed to healthy ingredients, get their flavor, and learn about nutrition and food in the process.

Personalized nutrition with 3D printing appears to have other advantages. For example, according to Agarwal, its key application is personalized nutrition for hospitals and healthcare centers because they can be adapted according to medical history, nutritional or dietary needs, with the desired shape. As food must be turned into a paste for 3D printing, he says overall food waste could be reduced in large-scale preparation.

According to the founder, when working with food suppliers and grocery stores, this can help optimize the food supply chain to meet demand more precisely and reduce waste of fresh produce in grocery stores and farms, optimizing the Inventory. Since the preparation of pasta is not subject to the visual appeal of the product, "you can still use visually rejected products from farms and grocery stores," he says.

You're just using a catchy, fancy term to promote a technique that's not new to the kitchen, because it sounds better to say 3D print rather than layer or terrine.

Bangkok Chef

However, José Encinas, an agronomist who has worked for two decades at FAO, points out that there may be a risk with 3D technology. Since you cannot see what is inside the prepared food, the best products may not be used. “The presentation is fundamental, it is already said that the eyes eat more than the mouth, or that the food has to enter through the eyes. But what is essential is the raw material, the basis of health. That they be fresh, local products, if possible agroecological, without preservatives, or additives and addictives added in order to sell ”, he says, alluding to commercialization.

On the other hand, the chef of a five-star hotel in Bangkok, who prefers to remain anonymous, believes that he personally finds it difficult to see the difference between a 3D printer and the use of a pastry bag, beyond being controlled by a computer and not by a hand. “For me it is a total waste of resources and computing power… but much better marketing speech. You are just using a fancy and catchy term to promote a technique that is not new to the kitchen, because it sounds better when you 3D print instead of saying you make layers or a terrine, ”argues the professional.

At the moment there are limitations for its large-scale production, such as the range of texture that can be printed, and the production capacity, since the duration of the printing obviously depends on the complexity of the form and the printer used. Ong, from the Center for Food Innovation and Resources, says that from his experience, it can take more than 15 minutes to print a leg of meat, for now.

But Agarwal envisions 3D food printing for mass production and says that with enough proliferation, “there will be 3D food printers in every office cafeteria, restaurant, hotel, and fully automated vending machines everywhere so that no matter where you are or when, you can always get the best food from anywhere ”.

Beef from cow cells

A. Salva

In the fall of 2019, Russian astronauts printed a steak in space for the first time. An experiment is not entirely new, as Israeli startup Aleph Farms had been working on lab-growing fillets for about a year.

To carry out the process, the team extracts cells from a cow through a small biopsy that is placed in a nutrient broth that simulates the environment within the animal's body. This results in a thin piece of meat, intended to mimic the texture and flavor of traditional beef.

This time, they put the mixture into small closed jars that they loaded onto the spacecraft and inserted into a magnetic printer to be printed by the astronauts. The samples returned to Earth on October 3, without being consumed, as the experiment was simply a test to improve the limited supply of space food that must last for a period of time, in case the resupply missions do not go well. . But it shows that meat could be grown in harsh environments on Earth.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2020-08-12

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