Читать книгу 3D Printing of Foods - C. Anandharamakrishnan - Страница 61

3D printing is a print‐and‐eat technology that allows us to customize the food as per individual needs. The present chapter gives an overview of various food printing technologies. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. The 3D printing of foods greatly depends on material properties and the type of binding mechanism employed. The selection of printing technology is decided by the material properties. Extrusion‐based 3D printing can be adapted for most of the food materials; however, its application is limited to high viscosity foods. Sintering‐based technologies best suits for the development of porous brittle 3D structures; however, they are limited with only a fewer range of powder materials. Binder jetting and ink‐jet printing are well known for the carving of 3D designs for surface decorations where the compatibility of the substrate with food ink is adequate. Compared to conventional processing, 3D printing converges the multi‐step processing into a single step. However, there are still many barriers in 3D printing that must be overcome for incorporating into a niche market of personalized foods. One major strength of 3D food printing is the conversion of our idea into a reality that allows us to deliver nutritious foods in desired shapes, colours, and forms. It is possible through the integration of 3D printing with digital gastronomy and culinary skills. However, for food applications, control over the process and product parameters without significant implications on end‐product quality are challenging. Food is a complex matrix with varied physiochemical properties that in turn behave differently with different printing technology. It is not an easy task to print food as not all the food materials are printable that require adequate processing to make them printable. This complexity involved in the optimization of 3D printing parameters must be addressed through the development of streamlined testing methods and protocols.

In view of sustainability, 3D printing allows for usage of lesser material resources with minimal material wastage. Further, 3D printing allows for the utilization of by‐products and waste streams of food industries such as fruits and vegetable peels, meat trimmings, and so on for the development of value‐added 3D printed foods. 3D food printing possesses both economic and environmental benefits that reduce the carbon footprints and overall product life cycle. As the need of the hour, the rising demand for the food shortage and animal protein demand can be encountered using 3D printing by adopting bioprinting principles in developing in‐vitro cultured artificial meats and meat analogues. Forecasting the future scale‐up operations, currently, 3D printing suffers from the limitation of lower print speed and less production rate. This can be overcome by adopting multi‐head printing systems. However, the extent of the feasibility of the adaption of multi‐heads to different food printing technologies remains under question. The use of multiple heads gradually complicates the coordination mechanism of movement arms and the integration of 3D printers with the microprocessor controlling unit. Hence, more research works on design components, accessories, software integration, and development are essential to bridge up the gap in reducing the difficulty involved with multi‐head print systems. Insights on design attributes would be useful for scaling up of process at an industrial level that results in higher operation speed and production rate. These features could gradually reduce the cost of operation as well as the price incurred with 3D printed foods.

With advancements in technology, 3D printing has a greater degrees of freedom that can be integrated with other food processing technologies. For instance, technologies such as encapsulation are well known for delivering functional foods. Similar approaches are adapted for the fabrication of functional 3D printed foods by encapsulating essential vitamins and minerals, probiotics, antioxidants, and so on. The basic coaxial‐based extrusion technique available for dual material printing can be modified to integrate 3D printing and encapsulation. 3D printing could be a promising solution for addressing malnourishment. The development in biotechnology paves a way for the analysis of genetic data through the use of ‘omics’ technology. This concept of retrieving individual genomic data for addressing health disorders can be improved efficiently by integrating with 3D food printing (Kumar et al. 2020). Hence, 3D printing has a far way to go that has the capability to revolutionize the nutraceuticals and food industry. More research works must be carried out in these directions for exploring the potential opportunities that exist with 3D printing. Not surprisingly, 3D printers could become a part of domestic kitchen appliance in the near future that transforms dietary practices.