C. Anandharamakrishnan - 3D Printing of Foods

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.

3D printing is an additive technology when applied to foods aids in the customization and personalization of diets. Various printing technologies used for food printing are extrusion‐based techniques, sintering process, ink‐jet printing, binder jetting, and bioprinting. The basic difference exists with the mechanism of binding of the printed layers. Various system components, working principles, and factors affecting each of the printing technologies have been discussed in the present chapter. Apart from aesthetic benefits, 3D printing of foods seems to be environmentally friendly providing several economic benefits. The printability of food material can be determined by material properties and process variables. Advancements in 3D printing can take the existing technology to a next level in the delivery of functional foods thereby reduces the incidence of malnourishment. As a smart manufacturing process, 3D printing has been considered to be a part of 4.0 industrial revolution. In this regard, 3D printing is forecasted to be adaptable in the food sector in the development of novel and sustainable foods.

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