Introduction
3D Food Printers have emerged as a new tool to combat the increasing food crisis globally amid rapid population growth. Erratic rainfall patterns, droughts, floods, and other geo-climatic events have been aggravated in recent years. Global Warming-induced sea level rise is shrinking agricultural land and displacing coastal communities across the world. It has also impacted the productivity of fisheries and narrowed down the marine and estuarine ecosystems in terms of productivity. 3-D printers also promote a ‘Circular Economy’ by reducing waste generation and reusing generated waste.
Food Processing Industry: How are 3D Food Printers Helping to Secure the ‘Food Ecosystem’?
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food security refers to the physical, social, and economic access to food tied to health. It further defines it as availability, access, utilization, and stability. 3D-printed food technology has raised the level of food safety and food quality monitoring. It has provided access to nutritious and affordable food. This technology has added cost-effectiveness, accuracy, accessibility, and reproducibility to food processing as compared to traditional manufacturing methodologies. Amid developments of new technologies such as the Internet of Everything (IoE), Cobots and mechanization have raised the efficiency of 3-D Food Printers.
3D-printed food technology has helped to increase the flexibility of different types of food. It can be used to create custom dishes, reduce food waste, and experiment with new ingredients.
Customizable Diet
Tailored Food On Demand
3D printing can create meals for people with food allergies or other dietary restrictions. It can help in tailoring food to dietary needs. 3D Printed food can precisely control the nutritional content, texture, and shape of food. It can cater to specific dietary restrictions, allergies, and medical conditions like dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) while maintaining visual appeal and taste.
Adjusting Nutrient Level
3D Food Printing helps to precisely mix different food ingredients in specific proportions during the printing process. It can create meals with tailored macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fat) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals) content to match individual dietary requirements.
Personalized Nutrition
3D printing can help people make better food choices by informing them about their eating habits and taste preferences
Aesthetic Appeal
3D Food printing technology can create visually appealing food designs that mimic the appearance of regular food. It modifies the textures or ingredients, enhancing mealtime enjoyment for people with dietary restrictions.
Dietary Restrictions
The 3D-printed foods can help patients by providing allergen-free ingredients and printing them separately. 3D printing can create meals that cater to individuals with food allergies or intolerances.
Production of Novel Ingredients
3D Food Printing can be to experiment with new ingredients like pureed vegetables, insect protein, or nutritional supplements. It can thus shoot up the current level of technological advancements in nutrition science.
3D Food Printers: Promoting Circular Economy
This new era of food processing technology can help to promote a circular economy which is a new prerequisite for Food 5.0 amid the Fifth Industrial Revolution (Industry 5.0).
From Waste To Wealth Creation
This printing technology can reduce food waste by turning food scraps and by-products into new edible products. Some of the food waste can be used in making packaging materials.
Preventing Food Spoilage
These printers can help to produce such food items which can help to reduce spoilage of food by making high quality green packaging materials by using food waste.
Using Rejected Food Items
Those food items that are rejected by retailers due to deficiencies in packaging, storage, or shape can be reused by 3-D food printers to make new items.
Fighting Protein Deficiency: 3D Printed Cell-cultured Meat
This novel printing technique can produce meat that has similar nutrition and taste to farm-raised meat. It creates meat-like products from animal cells. It involves isolating cells from an animal, growing them in a bioreactor, and then printing them into the desired shape.
Production of Food Processing Equipment
3D printing can help to design food sensors and biosensors. These sensors are used to detect food contaminants, allergens, and spoilage
Conclusion
The advent of the fifth Industrial Revolution with state-of-the-art technologies such as the Internet of Everything (IoE), Cobots, edge computing, and redactable blockchain can help the 3D Food Printers gain momentum. It will check the rising concerns of food insecurity aid climate change adversaries and massive population rise. The ‘circular economy’ promoted by this revolution can help to create wealth from waste apart from achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).