Three‐Dimensional (3D) Food Printing Applications, Techniques, and Consumer Acceptance

In recent years, three-dimensional (3D) food printing has seen substantial advancements, facilitating the production of highly customizable food products by integrating complex design and functional elements. This technology allows for fine-tuning visual characteristics, nutritional content, texture, and organoleptic properties according to individual consumer needs. Recently, 3D food printing has been used to encapsulate bioactive compounds to increase the nutritional value of food products. In addition, 3D printing has been explored for developing meat and cheese alternatives, cell-cultured meat, and scaffold development in cellular agriculture to obtain more efficient and personalized processes for food production. This review systematically examines recent progress in 3D food printing, focusing mainly on the applications in the domains mentioned above, and discusses the challenges and future research directions. Thus, this review can guide future research to achieve better 3D printed products using these emerging methods.

3D printing: Printing precision and application in food sector

Purpose To understand the views of people with dysphagia and their supporters on the feasibility of using 3D food printing to improve the visual appeal of texture-modified foods and their mealtime experiences. Materials and Methods Nine people with dysphagia and four of their supporters engaged in a virtual 3D food printing experience and interview over Zoom© about their impressions and usability of the printer and potential for it to improve their mealtime experiences. The in-depth interviews were analysed using thematic analysis and usability heuristics. Results Four content themes in the interviews impacted on the feasibility of 3D food printing. They related to the practicality, design acceptability, population suitability, and cost of 3D food printing. Usability heuristic analysis revealed that print quality, user control, error prevention, and handling of food consistencies would impact on use. Perceived low efficiency and increased time required to create food shapes meant participants were cautious in their overall impressions of the role of the device. Conclusion After an immersive virtual experience with a 3D food printer, people with dysphagia and their supporters identified a wide range of usability issues that would need to be addressed prior to implementation and in the future design of user-friendly 3D food printers for people with dysphagia. Future research should include people with dysphagia and their supporters in 3D food printer design and implementation trials. Implications for Rehabilitation 3D food printing may provide people with dysphagia who require texture-modified food a way to produce visually appealing texture-modified food if usability issues are addressed. 3D food printing could improve participation in meal preparation if the person with dysphagia chooses the food and the shape and size of the printed food shape.

Personalized nutrition aims to optimize health by addressing interindividual differences in metabolism, microbiota composition, and dietary responses. Modulating the gut microbiota through probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics is promising, yet conventional systems such as capsules or fermented foods offer limited control over dosage, release kinetics, and microbial viability. These formats often cause 2–4 log reductions in viable counts during processing and gastrointestinal transit, underscoring the need for advanced delivery technologies. Three-dimensional (3D) food printing enables digital design of edible matrices with programmable geometry and composition to enhance microbial protection and controlled release. Coaxial and gel-in-gel architectures have retained over 90–96% of probiotic cells after printing and 80–85% after simulated digestion. Synbiotic formulations combining probiotics with fructooligosaccharides or whey protein achieve 98–99% survival and stability for 35 days. This review summarizes advances in formulation, encapsulation, and printing strategies, highlighting how 3D food printing uniquely overcomes challenges of viability, release control, and personalized dosage in microbiota-based nutrition.

The rapid advancement of 3D printing technology has extended its reach beyond traditional manufacturing and into the realm of gastronomy. This book chapter delves into the innovative world of 3D food printing and its transformative impact on the food industry. As a disruptive technology, 3D food printing holds the promise of revolutionizing how food is prepared, presented, and consumed. The chapter begins by providing an overview of 3D printing technology, outlining its principles and mechanisms that have been adapted to create intricate food structures. It discusses the various techniques and materials used in 3D food printing, including hydrocolloids, proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, each with their unique culinary applications. Furthermore, the chapter explores the key benefits of integrating 3D food printing into the culinary landscape. These benefits include enhanced customization, precise portion control, and the potential for addressing dietary restrictions and nutritional requirements. This technology also opens avenues for artistic expression in culinary arts, allowing chefs to push the boundaries of food aesthetics and presentation. The challenges and considerations associated with 3D food printing are thoroughly examined, such as the need to balance technological feasibility with maintaining the sensory qualities and flavours of traditional cuisine. Food safety and regulatory concerns are also addressed, emphasizing the importance of ensuring that 3D printed food products meet stringent standards. Real-world applications of 3D food printing within the food industry range from personalized nutrition and meal replacement solutions to sustainable food production practices.

Food 3D printing technology holds significant potential for personalized nutrition and the customization of 3D structures with specific shapes and textures. This emerging technology is driving significant innovations in food processing and manufacturing. This article reviews the current research and development opportunities in food 3D printing, with a focus on various types of 3D food printing technologies. We offer novel insights into the behavioral characteristics of various 3D printing techniques during the printing process, while also highlighting that the successful development of 3D-printed food products relies on four critical factors: (1) adaptability, (2) printability, (3) food safety, and (4) consumer acceptance. Special emphasis is placed on the application and potential challenges of 3D printing technology, aiming to foster technological breakthroughs and industrial applications, ultimately offering consumers safer, smarter, and more personalized food choices.

Background: Using 3D printing technology, novel items can be created from various materials, including edible ones, addressing the growing importance of sustainable food chains and personalized nutrition. As the latest advancement in additive manufacturing, 3D printing meets diverse customer demands by producing customized food items tailored to individual nutritional needs. Objectives: This literature evaluation focuses on the applications, technical advancements, and future possibilities of 3D food printing. By assessing recent developments, the study explores its adaptability and transformative potential in addressing global issues such as sustainability and personalized nutrition. Methods: To include up-to-date and relevant data, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus were searched for research on "3D Food Printing," "Food Technology," "Food Formulation," and "Customized Diet" from 2018 to 2024. Data extraction and synthesis were conducted on 31 reports selected from 687 search results after removing duplicates and applying filters. Discussions: The study highlights the use of 3D food printers for creating dairy products, fish and meat, pasta, biscuits, chocolates, and cereal-based foods. Applications span industries such as space food, elderly and school children's nutrition, military food, hospitals, and restaurants. Future research directions include food characterization through color analysis, moisture content, water activity, physiochemical properties, and microbiological studies. Conclusions: This study highlights the potential advantages of 3D food printing technology, including healthier food options, novel dining experiences, and diet customization. It underscores its transformative capacity to impact the global economy while addressing sustainability and personalized nutrition challenges.

Consumer acceptance of cultured, plant-based, 3D-printed meat and fish alternatives

3D food printing is an emerging technology to customize food designs and produce personalized foods. Food printing materials are diverse in rheological properties, which makes reliable extrusion-based 3D printing with constant printing parameters a challenge. Food printing often suffers from improper extrusion because of the varying elasticity of the food materials. In this study, a computer vision (CV)-based method is developed to measure the instant extrusion rate and width under constant extrusion pressure/force. The measured extrusion rate and extruded filament width were used to conduct a feedforward control of nozzle motion for a pneumatic 3D food printer. As a result, the CV-based control method improves extrusion line accuracy to 97.6–100% and prevents under-extrusion of white chocolate spread, cookie dough, and processed cheese. The method can also be used to customize filament width with less than 8% of deviation from the target. With a simple measurement setup and a user-friendly software interface, this CV-based method is deployable to most food printing applications to reduce trial-and-error experiments when printing a new food material.

3D food printinghas recently attracted significant attention, both from academic and industrial researchers, due to its ability to manufacture customized products in such terms as size, shape, texture, color,and nutrition to meet demands of individual consumers. 4D printing, which is a technique that allows evolution of various characteristics/properties of 3D printed objects over time through external stimulation, has also been gaining more attention.In order to produce defect-free printed objects via both 3D and 4D printing, it is necessary to first identify the causes of defects and then their mitigation strategies. Comprehensive review on these important issues is nevertheless missing. The purpose of this review is to investigate causes and characteristics of defects occurring during and/or after 3D food printing, with a focus on how different factors affect the printing accuracy. Various techniques that can potentially minimize or eliminate printing defects and produce high-quality 3D/4D printed food products without the need for time-consuming trial and error printing experiments are critically discussed. Guidelines to avoid defects to improve the efficiency of future 3D/4D printed food production are given.

Traditional 3D printing usually uses professional software such as SolidWorks and Maya for modeling. However, applying the software mentioned above to customize 3D food printing patterns has the problems of a solid professional operation and high skill requirements. In response to this problem, a pattern drawing software applied to 3D food printing equipment was designed. The software uses image processing technology and C# programming language, based on Windows operating system and. NET Framework, combined with SQLite database technology to achieve product pattern drawing and model export functions. Among them, the automatic extraction of the enclosed area realized by the flood filling algorithm is the core function of product pattern drawing; the automatic acquisition of the contour of the connected graph recognized by the canny edge detection algorithm is the crucial step of the model derivation. The test results show that the software can quickly implement template import, pattern drawing, model export, and other operations, which improves the efficiency and ease of operation of pattern drawing in 3D food printing; The model file exported by the software can be directly used in the layered printing process of a 3D printer, which provides a direction for promoting the application of 3D printing technology in the food industry.

Additive manufacturing for the food industry

Three-dimensional (3D) food printing enables customized food production, but it faces challenges in creating emulsion-based 3D printed foods with optimal printability, stability, and structural integrity. Xanthan gum (XG) is widely used to address these issues due to its high viscosity at low concentrations, pronounced shear-thinning behavior, and stability under varying pH and temperature. This review critically examines the role of XG in emulsion-based 3D food printing, evaluating its performance in protein-stabilized emulsions, Pickering emulsions, bigels, and starch-based emulsions. A comparison with other natural gums (e.g. guar gum, locust bean gum) highlights the strengths and limitations of XG in printing precision, shape retention, nutrient release, and thermal stability. While XG enhances key printing parameters (viscosity, shear-thinning, and shape fidelity), its effectiveness depends on concentration, pH, and biopolymer interactions. Although it improves stability and printability, high XG levels may reduce nutrient bioaccessibility and alter sensory properties. The review also explores commercial prospects in personalized and dysphagia-friendly nutrition, formulation challenges, and future directions such as synergistic gum blends and advanced processing methods. With ongoing advancements, XG is positioned to play a pivotal role in the future of tailored and sustainable food manufacturing, supporting innovative applications in personalized nutrition, texture-modified foods, and culinary design.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a revolutionary additive manufacturing technique that allows rapid prototyping of objects with intricate architectures. This Review covers the recent state-of-the-art of biopolymers (protein and carbohydrate-based materials) application in pharmaceutical, bioengineering, and food printing and main reinforcement approaches of biomacromolecular structure for the development of 3D constructs. Some perspectives and main important limitations with the biomaterials utilization for advanced 3D printing procedures are also provided. Because of the improved the ink's flow behavior and enhance the mechanical strength of resulting printed architectures, biopolymers are the most used materials for 3D printing applications. Biobased polymers by taking advantage of modifying the ink viscosity could improve the resolution of deposited layers, printing precision, and consequently, develop well-defined geometries. In this regard, the rheological properties of printable biopolymeric-based inks and factors affecting ink flow behavior related to structural properties of printed constructs are discussed. On the basis of successful applications of biopolymers in 3D printing, it is suggested that other biomacromolecules and nanoparticles combined with the matrix can be introduced into the ink dispersions to enhance the multifunctionality of 3D structures. Furthermore, tuning the biopolymer's structural properties offers the most common and essential approach to attain the printed architectures with precisely tailored geometry. We finish the Review by giving a viewpoint of the upcoming 3D printing process and recognize some of the existing bottlenecks facing the blossoming 3D pharmaceutical, bioengineering, and food printing applications.

3D-printable emulsion gels structured via depletion attraction from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii biomass.