Development of fiber-enriched 3D printed snacks from alternative foods: A study on button mushroom
Introduction
3D printing technology has been used in various manufacturing industries for the production of high-quality finished products from a wide range of raw materials such as metals, ceramics, composites, polymers, biomaterials, and smart materials (Shahrubudin et al., 2019). The technology is rapidly emerging and has promising scope in different sectors including aerospace, electrical and electronics, textile, fashion, architecture, healthcare, medical, food, and packaging industries (Nida et al., 2020). 3D food printing is a print-and-eat technology with the capability to obtain nutritious and personalized foods through the concept of additive manufacturing. In this case, the fabrication of the food involves the structuring of different complex internal patterns using computerized software (Yang et al., 2017).
Commonly, extrusion, binder jetting, and inkjet printing have been explored for various food 3D printing applications. Among these, extrusion-based printing can be effectively used for semi-solid pastes like cereal doughs, meat purees, and chocolates, and typically involves layer-by-layer extrusion of the material supply through a nozzle for the formation of complex 3D constructs (Theagarajan et al., 2020). On the other hand, inkjet printing is generally used for low viscous liquid materials and employs either a continuous jet or a drop-on-demand approach for the dispersion of liquid foods. The binder jetting technique is used for powder-based materials such as powdered sugars and cocoa powders. As on date, the extrusion technique is the most extensively studied food 3D printing approach and the printability of the material supply depends on process variables such as printing speed, nozzle height, nozzle size, and material deposition rate, apart from the composition of the material supply. The printing process starts with the creation of the 3D model, followed by slicing and printing of the.STL file by the 3D printer through appropriate integration with slicing software for the generation of G and M-codes. Interestingly, in comparison with conventional food processing techniques, food 3D printing can provide enhanced levels of customization and personalization in terms of nutritional as well as sensorial attributes (Kumar et al., 2020).
Over the past few years, several studies have reported the printability of different natively printable foods and non-printable traditional foods. Further, several pre-processing approaches have been used to improve the printability of non-printable foods. This could involve the addition of food hydrocolloids like starch, xanthan gum, guar gum, gum arabic, locust bean gum, gum karaya, gellan gum, carrageenan, sodium alginate, pectin, agar, and gelatin, to alter the rheological properties of the material supply, making them suitable for 3D printing (Nachal et al., 2019). Though alternative foods such as algae, fungi, lupin seeds, seaweeds, and insects (Dankar et al., 2018) are expected to have unique printing characteristics, there is limited understanding of this aspect. It is well documented that the utilization of nutrients from alternative ingredients like insect proteins can pave way for sustainable technologies, particularly because of their numerous long-term advantages as compared with conventional food sources (Yang et al., 2017). Recent studies have also reported the potential of using nutrient-dense insect protein sources that could mimic animal protein (Akhtar and Isman, 2017; Caporizzi et al., 2019; C. C. Severini et al., 2018).
Edible mushrooms are valued as important alternative food sources and refer to the spore-bearing fruiting body of macroscopic filamentous fungi. Their global consumption market was around 12.74 million tons in 2018 and it is expected to reach 20.84 million tons by 2026 with a CAGR of 6.41% (Market Research Report, 2019). Only around 25 species of the 2000 species of mushrooms are edible, and fewer are produced commercially. The most common varieties include button mushroom, Crimini, Portobella, Shiitake, Oyster, and Enoki. Among the edible mushrooms, white button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) has the highest market demand because of its organoleptic, nutritional, and therapeutic properties. In general, mushrooms are packed with various micro and macronutrients and are key ingredients of several dietary supplements (Valverde et al., 2015). Commercially prepared mushroom powders are being used in the preparation of ready to cook (RTC) soup mixes and ready to serve (RTS) curry mixes (Srivastava et al., 2019), apart from the range of value-added products that are being developed by incorporating mushroom powder into deep-fried snack products like nuggets and chips, and bakery products such as biscuits, all aimed to improve the textural and nutritional value of processed foods (Prodhan et al., 2015; Rai and Arumuganathan, 2008). They are characteristic of micronutrients such as niacin, phosphorus, selenium, copper, apart from bioactive compounds like β-glucan and ergosterol. Several clinical studies have demonstrated their ability to fight cognitive impairment, body weight gain, cancer, and diabetes. Their role in the gut microbiota, immune functioning by the enhancement of natural killer (NK) cells, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidant effects are also well documented (Ramos et al., 2019). Further, the cultivation of mushroom involves a sustainable bio-conversion process, wherein cellulose waste gets converted to protein-rich edible biomass with characteristic organoleptic and functional properties.
Valued for their nutritional and nutraceutical properties, mushrooms can be used for the preparation of nutrient-rich foods, including those for personalized nutrition. However, to date, no full-fledged study reports the utilization of mushrooms for the preparation of 3D printed foods. However, the printing of fiber-rich foods can be a challenge. Their complex fibrous networks can aggregate the material supply and clog the printing nozzle; printed constructs may have layer definitions (Krishnaraj et al., 2019; Lille et al., 2018). Further, in several cases, fiber-enriched foods have poor consumer acceptability. Accordingly, apart from understanding the printability, it was also aimed to produce snacks from button mushrooms with appreciable organoleptic quality. With changing consumer preferences and the rising demand for plant-based foods, this study was aimed to provide a scientific base for 3D printing of material supplies with mushrooms.
Section snippets
Material
Freshly harvested white button mushrooms were procured from the local market at Thanjavur, India for the preparation of MP. Similarly, wheat flour (WF) was also purchased from the local market. Potassium metabisulphite (KMS), sodium chloride (NaCl) and calcium chloride (CaCl2) salts were purchased from Himedia Laboratory, Mumbai, India.
Preparation of mushroom powder
Mushrooms were cleaned to remove foreign matter, cleaned, and sliced into cubes, before blanching. For blanching, the water was heated to boiling temperature.
Flow behavior of the material supply
Flow behavior analysis of the material supply is an important aspect in determining the suitability of the material for extrusion-based printing (Liu et al., 2019a, 2019b; 2019c). Hence, the effect of varying levels of MP on the rheological behavior of the material supply was analyzed by measuring the shear profile and viscosity of the samples. All the material supplies exhibited shear-thinning behavior (Fig. 2) indicating a decrease in the apparent viscosity of the material with an increase in
Conclusion
Forecasted to have huge commercial potential, 3D food printing is well appreciated for the level of customization it can offer, both in terms of appearance and nutrition. In this study, for the first time, the printability of mushrooms is reported. Their freeze-dried powder was found to be non-printable but the addition of WF improves printability significantly. Among all variations, 20% MP formulation printed at 800 mm/min printing speed using the 1.28 mm nozzle with 0.383 g/min flow rate gave
CRediT authorship contribution statement
K. Keerthana: Formal analysis, Data curation, Writing - original draft. T. Anukiruthika: Formal analysis, Data curation. J.A. Moses: Funding acquisition, Methodology, Resources, Writing - review & editing. C. Anandharamakrishnan: Conceptualization, Project administration, Supervision, Writing - review & editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
- MP
– mushroom powder
- WF
– wheat flour
- RTC
– ready to cook
- RTS
– ready to serve
- OAA
– overall acceptance
Abbreviations
Acknowledgment
The authors acknowledge funding received from the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Govt. of India for this research work (Grant No.: Q-11/16/2018-R&D).
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