8 Benefits to 3D-Printed Food

Date Updated: October 21, 2024


Designing and printing food with 3D printers is a new but rapidly advancing field. According to Quince Market Insights, the 3D-printed food market is forecast to expand at a compound annual growth rate of about 34 percent between now and 2030.

3D-printed food is made with standard 3D printers but using soft, edible materials that can be extruded through a nozzle. The printer follows a computer-generated model to deposit layers of material with extreme precision to create a final three-dimensional entrée. Food researchers must experiment with ingredient formulations and material properties such as viscosity to create the desired structure, flavor, and texture.

Below are eight advantages/benefits of 3D-printed food that are driving growth in the industry:

1. Customization

3D printing allows cooks and chefs to experiment with textures and designs that have never been created before. For example, engineers at Columbia University printed a vegan, seven-ingredient slice of (cheese-free) cheesecake with an elaborate internal structure. Spectacular designs, complex colors and shapes, and even detailed logos can be achieved with 3D printing.  

2. Personalized nutrition

Food “inks” can be formulated that provide the exact amount of vitamins, nutrients, and calories per meal for individual meals. These preparations can even include time-released ingredients. Personalized nutrition is important in healthcare settings for patients on restricted diets, or simply as a way to broaden meal offerings or meet food requests.
 

3. Easier swallowing

People with dysphagia—a condition of difficult swallowing—often eat their meals after they have been processed in a blender, resulting in a bland and texturally unappealing dining experience. But recently, researchers at a British university, UWE Bristol, used an extrusion-based 3D printer to create meals that are easy to swallow and digest, but with a more pleasing texture and better nutritional variety. The meals—made using pureed garden peas, strained Greek yogurt, extra virgin olive oil, powdered organic mint leaves and vegetable stock—took about 20 minutes to make. 

More on 3D printing: 3D Printing Steps into Housing
 

4. Plant-based “meat”

Several companies are 3D printing plant-based or vegetarian meat products that present the same texture, taste, and even smell of real meat. Considerable research chemistry is undertaken to formulate plant-based compounds that not just taste like meat but also visually and texturally resemble meat, right down to the blood (beet juice).
 

5. Real meat

Scientists in Japan have 3-D printed a cut of Wagyu beef that looks exactly like the real cut. A CAD model was used by the team to 3D-print the biomaterials that created the exact shape and composition of the steak—the result of building stacks of living cells to exactly replicate the complex structures of the muscle tissue, blood vessels, and fat. 
 

6. Reducing food waste

3D printing allows for using exactly the right amount of ingredients, so no material is wasted. In other situations, where there is wasted food, it can be recycled by being a material source for 3D-printed food. For example, Upprinting Food collects food that is destined for waste, mixes and prepares it, and then 3D-prints it into intricately designed, flavorful biscuits. On the flip side, researchers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale recently turned plastic waste into edible, and palatable, 3D-printed cookies. 
 

7. Unconventional food consumption

Unconventional foods, such as unusual-looking but nutritious plants or protein-rich ingredients such as crickets, can be 3D-printed into more attractive food products with appealing textures and flavors—a good way to present them to the public and incentivize consumption.

Editor's Choice: Using Robots to Deliver the Goods
 

8. Space travel

3D-printed food on manned space flights is getting serious attention from NASA for longer missions, such as traveling to Mars. This technology could be automated to produce nutritious and good-tasting meals in space. NASA has partnered with private-sector companies to develop the 3D printers and food inks for this purpose—including making pizza. 


Mark Crawford is a technology writer based in Corrales, N.M.