3D Food Printing - towards sustainability
Nearly 10 billion people are expected to live on earth in 2050. How are we going to feed the world in a sustainable and healthy manner? With the increased role of technology in society and higher than ever demand for nutritious and personalized food, the need for the food & technology industry to respond becomes even bigger. One of the expected solutions that will contribute to solving these problems is 3D Food Printing.
The Embassy of Food at the Ketelhuisplein was one of the most popular exhibitions at the Dutch Design Week, which took place from 21 to 29 October in Eindhoven. A huge greenhouse welcomed everyone interested in the future of food, as the aim of the curator Marije Vogelzang, who leads the food design department at Design Academy Eindhoven, was to demonstrate how the food will be, or should be, produced, processed and eaten in the upcoming times.
byFlow, a Dutch company specializing in 3D Food Printing and developing 3D Food Printers, was present in the Embassy via their customer AgriFoodTech, which presented their 3D Food Printer, named the Focus.
While the concept of 3D Food Printing gets more and more popular, people usually recognize it as a way to create beautiful dishes for the fine dining. It is only one of the applications and we want to show that there is more behind it.
Says Nina Hoff, CEO of byFlow. To give an insight into the technology and the possibilities it offers, the company organized 3D Food Printing workshops in the Embassy of Food, which gathered lots of attention.
So what are the solutions hiding behind the idea? byFlow says that their mission is to change the way food is prepared and experienced, aiming to contribute to a more sustainable world. 3D Food Printing enables professionals to create customized shapes, textures and flavors, by using fresh ingredients or ingredients that otherwise would have been thrown away.
Imagine a carrot or a piece of meat, which is too ugly to be served in a fancy restaurant. Usually, the chef has to throw it away. Now, it can be blended and 3D-printed into an innovative and creative dish.
This straight way towards decreasing the food wastage is not all 3D Food Printing has to offer. It is also extensively researched as a tool for personal dieting. A great example is a project launched by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Australia, which uses 3D Food Printing to find a way to produce personalized and genetically targeted food. Another one is implementing 3D Food Printing in the facilities for elderly people where a lot of residents suffer from swallowing problems.
Food is one of the most important parts of our everyday life and culture to be replaced in the future by a “whole-meal-pill”. Therefore, there is a need for the development of personalized and healthy food, which would preserve the experience of eating. 3D Food Printing is one of the promising solutions.