Review
3d printing technologies applied for food design: Status and prospects

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2016.01.025Get rights and content

Highlights

  • 3D food printing technologies overview.

  • Design of new textures and tailored nutritional content.

  • Design of complex geometries of food structure.

  • How 3D printing techniques are influenced by material properties?

  • Rational choice of 3D printing technique to design food.

Abstract

The use of 3-Dimensional (3D) printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), technology in food sector has a great potential to fabricate 3D constructs with complex geometries, elaborated textures and tailored nutritional contents. For this reason, 3D technology is driving major innovations in food industry. Here, we review the use of 3D printing techniques to design food materials. Our discussions bring a new insight into how essential food material properties behave during application of 3D printing techniques. We suggest that the rational design of 3D food constructs relies on three key factors: (1) printability, (2) applicability and (3) post-processing. Especial emphasis is devoted to how the advantages/limitations of 3D printing techniques affect the end-use properties of the printed food constructs.

Introduction

The design of food which meets the unique demand of special consumer categories, such as, elderly, children and athletes, has raised the need for new technologies usable in the processing of additives, flavours and vitamins with tailored chemical and structural characteristics, and longer shelf-life properties. Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as solid freeform fabrication (SFF), is one of these methods that involve techniques applied for building physical parts or structures through the deposition of materials layer by layer. This is also referred as a “3D printing” in a general term.

AM was originally invented to build 3D objects based on materials, such as, metals, ceramics and polymers aiming to perform the fabrication of complexes parts in a single step. In the very first studies, the fabrication of 3D objects from polymers relied on photo-polymerization processes in which ultraviolet curable polymers were used for printing layers upon layers of solid constructs (Hull, 1986, Kodama, 1981). AM technology using photo-sensitive materials is not suitable to design food. However, curable printing inks can be attractive in the field of food packaging where there is a continued need for safer, faster and cheaper inks, functional coating, and overprint varnishes. This technique can also be applied to make films and plastic containers with gas barrier coatings to protect flavour and extend the life of packaged food and beverages.

In the food sector, a relevant application of 3D printing techniques to design food constructs was firstly reported by researchers from Cornell University who introduced the Fab@Home Model 1 as an open source design 3D printer capable of producing forms using liquid food materials (Malone and Lipson, 2007, Periard et al., 2007). The operation system of the Fab@home printers is based on extrusion processes. In subsequent years many studies were carried out in an effort to adapt AM technology to the design of food constructs (Diaz et al., 2015a, Diaz et al., 2014b, Grood et al., 2013, Hao et al., 2010a, Hao et al., 2010b, Schaal, 2007, Serizawa et al., 2014, Sol et al., 2015). This represents a challenge because AM is not easily applied to the complex food materials with a wide variation in physico-chemical properties.

The purpose of applying AM technology to print food materials does not rely on the concentration of manufacturing processes of product in a single step, but it is associated with the design of food with new textures and potentially enhanced nutritional value. This approach is achieved by the synergetic combination of the essential constituents of food (carbohydrates, proteins and fat), bearing in mind their intrinsic properties and binding mechanisms during deposition of layers. Another trend of the AM in the food sector is the design of complex structures which are not possible to design manually by an artisan, for example. This second strength generally uses sugars and other low nutritional ingredients to produce confectionary items (Yang et al., 2015).

In this review, we describe the current 3D printing techniques applied to design food materials. They are classified according to material supply: liquid, powder and culture of cells. The deposition of liquid-based materials can be performed via extrusion and inkjet processes. Powder-based structures are printed by deposition followed by application of a heat source (laser or hot air) or particle binder. A brief description of cell culture deposition (bioprinting) is also described, as this technique was applied to print meat analogue. Our discussions, however, are especially devoted on how the food constituents (not cell cultures) would behave during AM processes.

This review looks into three interactive factors which we consider essentials for the rational choice of 3D printing techniques in the design of food: (1) printability, (2) applicability and (3) post-processing feasibility. We emphasize that the profitable incorporation of AM technology by food industry relies on comprehensive studies of the materials properties and optimization of multicomponent systems containing carbohydrates, proteins and fat.

Section snippets

Additive manufacturing technologies

Depending on the fabrication principle, number of 3D printing techniques can be introduced in the food field and adapted to meet the demand of food design and materials processing. Table 1 summarizes the 3D printing techniques currently applied for food design. The processes are grouped by the type of material used: liquid, powder or cell cultures. Cell culture-based systems have been applied for printing meat. Particular attention was given to the techniques involving the essential

Rational choice of 3D printing technique based on materials properties

Originally, AM technologies were applied for building 3D objects by means of layering deposition of non-food materials, such as, metals, ceramics and synthetic polymers in processes involving the use of organic solvents, extreme temperature conditions or crosslinking agents that do not comply with food safety standards. Therefore, one of the critical challenges in the 3D food printing field has been to align food grade materials with printing processes. Three food materials property related

Summary and future directions

As reviewed, the design of 3D food constructs via AM technology is strongly dependent on the material properties and binding mechanisms. In recent years, great efforts have been made aiming to achieve end-properties of 3D constructs having end-use properties aligned with or more advantageous than those obtained through traditional manufacturing method. However, there are still many barriers to overcome for AM technology to be incorporated in place of traditional manufacturing fabrication

Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to the financial support provided by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) to review the 3D printing technologies and identify potential red meat applications (project number: V.RMH.0034). The authors also thank the infrastructure used in the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences at The University of Queensland during the writing of this article review.

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