Dishing up 3D printed food, one tasty printout at a time
NEWS RELEASE 3-FEB-2021
Singapore researchers develop new method for 'printing' fresh vegetables, leading to tastier, more nutritious food for patients with swallowing difficulties
SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN
Representative images of 3D printed shapes with five formulations of one food ink type, images with box
drawn around them represent the optimised formulations of the inks. Print scores represented on top right
corner assessed by shape fidelity and shape stability.
CREDIT
SUTD / NTU / KTPH
USAGE RESTRICTIONS
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Researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) have developed a new way to create "food inks" from fresh and frozen vegetables, that preserves their nutrition and flavour better than existing methods.
Food inks are usually made from pureed foods in liquid or semi-solid form, then 3D-printed by extrusion from a nozzle, and assembled layer by layer.
Pureed foods are usually served to patients suffering from swallowing difficulties known as dysphagia. To present the food in a more visually appetising way, healthcare professionals have used silicone moulds to shape pureed foods, which is labour and time intensive, and requires storage.
While 3D food printing means food can be easily produced in a desired shape and texture in a shorter time, the dehydrated food and freeze-dried powders used as food inks usually contain a high percentage of food additives such as hydrocolloids (HCs) to stabilise the ink and enable a smoother printing process. High concentration of HCs usually changes the taste, texture and aroma of the printed food, making it unappetising to patients with dysphagia. This may lead to reduced food consumption and malnutrition among patients.
More:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/suot-du3020321.php