admin Technology has secured several novel feats of success in the field of 3D printed food. Converting the once utopian dream of manufacturing 3D printed food into a now tangible reality, a team of Brazilian and French scientists have developed ingredients to manufacture such items with enhanced taste and texture, mimicking the real flavors of a food item. This marks a significant leap forward for science and tech as this research could lead to the creation of 3D printed food items of various textures, tastes, and nutritional properties. The novel feature that has been added to the already existent world of 3D printed food is that of enhanced textural brilliance.
The Science behind the Gels
The team of researchers from the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture at Sao Paulo University, Nantes Atlantic College of Veterinary Medicine, Food Science and Engineering (Oniris) in France, and the French National Institute for Research in Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) have developed an unforeseen ingredient for printing 3D food. They have worked on the development of certain modified starch hydrogels that are to be used as ‘ink’ for the printing of such 3D food items.
Several years of research were diligently dedicated by the team to develop this ‘ink’. The latest approach deduced by the researchers include the dry heating of the cassava and wheat starch in the oven, under a controlled temperature scale. According to the researchers, this method produces wheat starch-based gels that offer ‘optimal printability’. What’s more is that they also produce a structure that is perfectly preserved after printing. Hence, the structural integrity of the item is not compromised by following this methodology of printing. This method extends the textural possibilities of the printed samples in a hitherto unforeseen manner. Moreover, this methodology has certain added benefits of being cost-effective, simple, and easy to implement in a planned large-scale industrial endeavour.
Roadmap for the Future
The research was published in the scientific Food Research Journal. The endeavour has been a seminal boon for the food industry. However, the engineers also clarified that such innovative gels could also be used in the other sectors of the market- mainly in the manufacture of drug capsules and nutraceuticals. This group of researchers and engineers now wants to focus on designing more customised ingredients so as to continue the 3D food revolution by achieving new domains of novelty and success.
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