From EU Startups
5 promising European startups 3D printing your food
As food scarcity and climate change continue to be an alarming concern for consumers, people are looking into alternative sources to get their food and nutrition. More consumers are reducing their meat consumption and adopting vegetarian, vegan, or flexitarian diets. This has led to the rise of new plant based products. The global plant-based meat market is projected to be growing at a rate of 19.4% annually. There is also a growing interest for insects to be a part of mainstream consumption.
Another promising food innovation that can help solve the food chain crisis is 3D food printing. Anything that is or can be in a liquid or paste state can be used for 3D printing. 3D printing food can enable food personalisation (for example, personalising nutritional value or texture), presenting less desirable food in a more delicious form, and creating plant-based foods.
In the future, 3D food printers will be a mass adopted consumer product that will become a common household product. For now, 3D food printer technology remains primarily for commercial use. The technology behind 3D food printing is nascent and currently not scalable. The current challenges with scalability and the time to produce each unit is still relatively long, and also the cost of purchasing and maintenance is high.
Within Europe, there a few 3D food printing startups that are either building the technology behind 3D food printers or are producing 3D printed food such as plant-based ‘meats’. You should watch these startups as they are set to transform how food is produced and are helping to create more sustainable food chains. We are looking forward to trying all these new 3D food products when they launch!...
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