• What we do
  • The People
  • About Us
  • Why Innovation Africa
  • Contact Us
Innovation AfricaCreating the Future Today
  • Feature Articles
  • Innovation
  • Agriculture
  • ICT
  • Technology
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Health
  • Store
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Feature Articles
  • Innovation
  • Agriculture
  • ICT
  • Technology
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Health
  • Store
  • Contact Us
  • 3-D printers poised to have major implications for food manufacturing

    July 17, 2015 Editor 0

    CHICAGO– The use of 3D printers has the potential to revolutionize the way food is manufactured within the next 10 to 20 years, impacting everything from how military personnel get food on the battlefield to how long it takes to get a meal from the computer to your table, according to a July 12th symposium at IFT15: Where Science Feeds Innovation hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) in Chicago.

    The price of 3D printers has been steadily declining, from more than $500,000 in the 1980s to less than $1,000 today for a personal-sized device, making them increasingly available to consumers and manufacturers Although they are not widely used in food manufacturing yet, that availability is fueling research into how they can be used to customize foods or speed delivery of food to consumers.

    “No matter what field you are in, this technology will worm its way in,” said Hod Lipson, Ph.D., a professor of engineering at Columbia University and a co-author of the book Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing. “The technology is getting faster, cheaper and better by the minute. Food printing could be the killer app for 3D printing.”

    Lipson, addressing the conference by video, said 3D printing is a good fit for the food industry because it allows manufacturers to bring complexity and variety to consumers at a low cost. Traditional manufacturing is built on mass production of the same item, but with a 3D printer, it takes as much time and money to produce a complex, customized product that appeals to one person as it does to make a simple, routine product that would be appealing to a large group.

    For example, Lipson said, users could choose from a large online database of recipes, put a cartridge with the ingredients into their 3D printer at home, and it would create the dish just for that person. The user could customize it to include extra nutrients or replace one ingredient with another.

    The U.S. military is just beginning to research similar uses for 3D food printing, but it would be used on the battlefield instead of in the kitchen, said Mary Scerra, food technologist at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) in Natick, Massachusetts. She said that by 2025 or 2030, the military envisions using 3D printing to customize meals for soldiers that taste good, are nutrient-dense, and could be tailored to a soldier’s particular needs.

    “Imagine warfighters in remote areas–one has muscle fatigue, one has been awake for a long period without rest, one lacks calories, one needs electrolytes, and one just wants a pizza,” Scerra said. “Wouldn’t it be interesting if they could just print and eat?”

    She noted that there are still several hurdles to overcome, such as the cost of bringing the technology to remote areas, the logistics of making it work in those locations and, perhaps most importantly, making sure the food tastes good.

    “If the meals aren’t palatable, they won’t be consumed,” Scerra said. “It doesn’t matter how nutritious they are.”

    Anshul Dubey, research and development senior manager at PepsiCo, said 3D printing already is having an impact within the company, even though it is not yet being used to make food. For example, consumer focus groups were shown 3D-printed plastic prototypes of different shaped and colored potato chips. He said using a prototype such as that, instead of just a picture, elicits a more accurate response from the focus group participants.

    “Even though the future of food 3D printing looks far off, that doesn’t mean it’s not impacting the industry,” he said.

    ***

    About IFT

    Founded in 1939, the Institute of Food Technologists is committed to advancing the science of food. Our non-profit scientific society–more than 17,000 members from more than 95 countries–brings together food scientists, technologists and related professionals from academia, government, and industry. For more information, please visit ift.org.

    Related Posts

    • A new Toolkit to help develop national broadband strategiesA new Toolkit to help develop national broadband strategies
    • Book Review: Theory Building for Hypothesis Specification in Organizational StudiesBook Review: Theory Building for Hypothesis Specification in Organizational Studies
    • Africa to get $154m pan African universityAfrica to get $154m pan African university
    • SA in bilateral and multilateral science talks with Brics partners
    • Tabula: a web-based coordination tool integrating task structure overviews and minimalist task workspacesTabula: a web-based coordination tool integrating task structure overviews and minimalist task workspaces
    • Top Tips for Training Outreach Workers on Mobile Data CollectionTop Tips for Training Outreach Workers on Mobile Data Collection
    Sovrn
    Share

    Categories: Agriculture

    Tags: 3-D printers, food manufacturing

    Gut microbes enable coffee pest to withstand extremely toxic concentrations of caffeine Stop Reinventing the Flat Tire with Custom Software Development

    Comments are currently closed.

Subscribe to our stories


 

Recent Posts

  • Entrepreneurial Alertness, Innovation Modes, And Business Models in Small- And Medium-Sized Enterprises December 30, 2021
  • The Strategic Role of Design in Driving Digital Innovation June 10, 2021
  • Correction to: Hybrid mosquitoes? Evidence from rural Tanzania on how local communities conceptualize and respond to modified mosquitoes as a tool for malaria control June 10, 2021
  • BRIEF FOCUS: Optimal spacing for groundnuts in smallholder farming systems June 9, 2021
  • COVID-19 pandemic: impacts on the achievements of Sustainable Development Goals in Africa June 9, 2021

Categories

Archives

Popular Post-All time

  • A review on biomass-based... 1k views
  • Can blockchain disrupt ge... 795 views
  • Apply Now: $500,000 for Y... 791 views
  • Test Your Value Propositi... 748 views
  • Prize-winning projects pr... 721 views

Recent Posts

  • Entrepreneurial Alertness, Innovation Modes, And Business Models in Small- And Medium-Sized Enterprises
  • The Strategic Role of Design in Driving Digital Innovation
  • Correction to: Hybrid mosquitoes? Evidence from rural Tanzania on how local communities conceptualize and respond to modified mosquitoes as a tool for malaria control
  • BRIEF FOCUS: Optimal spacing for groundnuts in smallholder farming systems
  • COVID-19 pandemic: impacts on the achievements of Sustainable Development Goals in Africa
  • Explicit knowledge networks and their relationship with productivity in SMEs
  • Intellectual property issues in artificial intelligence: specific reference to the service sector
  • Africa RISING publishes a livestock feed and forage production manual for Ethiopia
  • Transforming crop residues into a precious feed resource for small ruminants in northern Ghana
  • Photo report: West Africa project partners cap off 2020 with farmers field day events in Northern Ghana and Southern Mali

Tag Cloud

    africa African Agriculture Business Business model Business_Finance Company Crowdsourcing data Development East Africa economics Education Entrepreneur entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship ethiopia ghana Health_Medical_Pharma ict Information technology Innovation kenya knowledge Knowledge Management Leadership marketing mobile Mobile phone nigeria Open innovation Organization Research rwanda science Science and technology studies social enterprise social entrepreneurship south africa Strategic management strategy tanzania Technology Technology_Internet uganda

Categories

Archives

  • A review on biomass-based hydrogen production for renewable energy supply 1k views
  • Can blockchain disrupt gender inequality? 795 views
  • Apply Now: $500,000 for Your Big Data Innovations in Agriculture 791 views
  • Test Your Value Proposition: Supercharge Lean Startup and CustDev Principles 748 views
  • Prize-winning projects promote healthier eating, smarter crop investments 721 views

Copyright © 2005-2020 Innovation Africa Theme created by PWT. Powered by WordPress.org