3D Food Printing: Cutting Waste, Layer by Layer
Contents
Introduction
Food waste reduction
Market forces
Food printing may present vast opportunity
Market movers
Leaders & fast followers
Investors
VC / PE / Funds
Final Thoughts
The search for alternatives
Is food printing the latest tool in fighting food waste?
Advocates see better use of materials from additive process
A technology dating back to the 1980s, 3D printing produces items by laying down successive layers of material, with each layer essentially representing a thinly sliced cross-section of the final object.
Today, 3D printing is used to make many different objects: medical implants, machine parts, dental products and other consumer products.
In much the same way, 3D printed food is prepared through an automated additive process, allowing for the creation of candies, pastries, chocolates, pizzas, and a host of other foods. It provides a means to increase creativity in the kitchen, with the added benefit of reduced cooking time, food waste, and reducing society's reliance on farmed livestock and produce.
Market Trends: Facts, Figures, Forces
3D food printing is small, new, and by some measures, an enormous opportunity to tap into an emerging technology.
Market Facts & figures
Rising consumer tastes for customized and personalized food products is driving the demand for 3D printed food products. In response to customers’ growing desire to customize their food’s shapes, colors, textures, and even nutritional values, manufacturers are launching innovative 3D food printers for such sweets as chocolates, candies, and cookies, making the 3D printed food more popular at both the commercial and domestic use levels.
The large and growing investments within the healthcare sector are also helping to promote the growth of the 3D food printing industry. For instance, 3D printing can create food that is rich in specific nutrients, or is customized for easier chewing and swallowing by elderly or disabled people.
With the growing market of 3D food printing, investors and advocates are focusing on this niche field.
3D printed pastry image courtesy of La Pâtisserie Numérique.
market forces
Today, 3D food printers are mostly in their pilot stage and found more in gourmet dining, be it in molecular kitchens or fancy bakeries. This technology is currently not scalable, as it requires more time and development to mature.
The physical and geometrical limitations of the printing materials make designing a 3D model for food products difficult. While there is no currently available software that accounts for professional- or domestic-level 3D printed food design due to the complexity of food materials, scientists are working on developing technologies that are able to predict the behavior of different materials during the printing process. In the future, with the growth of this technology, the market for 3D printed food will only rise.
3D Food Printing's Impact
3D printed food can provide an exceptionally precise customization of the amount of protein, sugar, vitamins, and fibers that go into the final product. In the post-COVID era, 3D food printing technology is expected to meet and even extend the demand for personalized and customized personal foods for the specialized diets of patients, children, athletes, military, etc. NASA is even exploring ways to integrate 3D printed food into space to help sustain crews’ nutritional requirements.
Livestock farming is one of the top contributors to deforestation, land degradation, water pollution, and desertification. 3D food printing technology can be a healthy alternative that’s also beneficial to the environment, as it utilizes the protein powder waste produced from beet leaves, algae, and insects to produce food products. Spanish startup Novameat has been able to print a plant-based steak that mimics the texture and appearance of real meat.
3D food printing can also potentially help reduce food waste (worldwide today, one-third of the total food produced for consumption goes to waste) by utilizing such “less desirable” food products as meat off-cuts, seafood byproducts, and distorted fruits and vegetables as raw materials. Dutch startup UPPRINTING FOOD uses 3D food printing technology to salvage food waste such as fruits that are too ripe to be sold to create different pureed mixtures flavored with herbs and spices, which can subsequently be extruded into 3D shapes.
Investment Opportunities
This technology is currently not scalable due to the physical and geometrical limitations of the printing materials. While there is no available software that accounts for professional- or domestic-level 3D printed food design, due to the complexity of food materials, scientists are working on developing technologies that are able to predict the behavior of different materials during the printing process.
3D printers are able to reduce production time and costs and increase efficiency for product development in multiple different industries, ensuring their demand for years to come. Furthermore, they have a multitude of applications, not just in food but in the medical, retail, and military industries as well, opening up numerous possibilities for investment.
Market Segments
Confectionary
The most common process of 3D food printing is material extrusion. Because this technique requires paste-like inputs, sweets such as mousses and ganaches are relatively easy to make and therefore were some of the first foods to be printed.
Meat and Seafood
Plant-based meat has recently become the biggest thing in 3D printed protein. 3D printers are able to mimic the structure, texture, and taste of traditional steak, offering a future alternative for plant-based protein that looks and tastes like animal protein.
Other Food Groups
Beyond sweets and meats, there are companies making strides in printing pizzas and pastas. But there is still a long way to go and more techniques will need to be developed to widen the variety of foods that can be printed. For example, 3D printed vegetables currently require additional processes because there is no clear way to give them the consistency necessary through 3D printing — not to mention their high water content.
Market Movers: Current and Future Heavy Hitters
Steakholder Foods is a technology focused meat production company using cells rather than animals with the mission to positively impact welfare and food security.
Redefine Meat uses 3D printing technology, meat digital modeling, and food formulations to produce animal-free meat. The company’s range of products, called New Meat, now includes whole cuts, burgers, sausages, lamb kebabs, and ground beef, as the startup has said it hopes to become “the world’s largest meat company by offering every single cut that a cow does.”
BeeHex is a U.S. startup that began as a NASA-funded company to explore 3D food production for space travel but now focuses on producing 3D printers to decorate baked goods. Their DecoPod and the smaller Cake Writer products enable grocery customers to 3D print personalized messages on store-bought cakes in just minutes.
Print2Taste is a company that was founded in 2014 by food technologists, nutritional scientists, IT experts, and engineering specialists in order to develop innovative solutions for 3D food printing applications. Within its first year, the company introduced its Bocusini Plug & Play 3D Food Printing System, and since then has sold more than 150 units. The success of this innovative system is based on the combination of the Bocusini Pro 3D food printer, easy-to-use refill systems for various edibles, and an intuitive, easy-to-understand user interface with numerous application possibilities for the creation and adaption of printable templates.
Founded in the Netherlands as a family business in 2015, byFlow is one of the globally leading companies in the growing market of 3D food printing. The company develops 3D food printing technology that enables professionals to create customized shapes, textures, and flavors by using fresh ingredients or ingredients that otherwise would have been thrown away.
Novameat is a Spanish startup that has printed a plant-based steak that mimics the texture and appearance of real meat.
Production line:
3D printed food can provide an exceptionally precise customization of the amount of protein, sugar, vitamins, and fibers that go into the final product.
Venture Capital/PE and Other Fund Investors
With the growing market of 3D food printing, more and more investors are putting attention on this niche field. 3D food printing startup Cocuus has recently raised €2.5 Million in a Pre-Series A funding round, which was led by Big Idea Ventures, with participation by Cargill Ventures, Eatable Adventures, and Tech Transfer UPV. Similarly, Mooji Meats recently announced $3 million raised in a round featuring The Good Startup, Collaborative Fund, Lever VC and AgFunder. One of the major leader of this field, Redefine Meat, is raising $250 million to expand 3D-printed animal-free meat substitutes.
Final Thoughts
Among 3D food printing’s many advantages is that it cuts production costs by calling for exact amounts of individual ingredients, creates appealing meat alternatives, replaces slow manual processes such as cake decorating, and brings inspiring experiences to commercial kitchens and restaurants. Although there are still technical difficulties that need to be overcome before the 3D food printing industry can be properly scaled up, the next few years may bring significant growth in the market.