Technology developed to print soft foods “that look, feel and taste like their more solid versions”.
Care2 reported that Germany-based food innovation firm Biozoon are developing a new line of “food texturisers”, named “seneoPro”, that are designed to make 3D-printed soft food products “more appealing” to elderly people in nursing homes and other care facilities who have issues chewing and swallowing – a condition known as dysphagia.
Noting that dysphagia sufferers “are often fed unappetising meals of mushy, pureed fare” that are “challenging and time-consuming to prepare, aren’t fun for seniors to eat, and don’t offer a well-balanced nutritional mix”, the article explains that 3D printers could be used to produce “soft foods that look, feel and taste like their more solid versions”, with the technology also able to tailor meals to each individual by infusing them with “extra vitamins and minerals based on each senior’s individual needs”.
Printer cartridges will be “filled with a combination of liquefied real-food products, additional nutrients and texturisers meant to make everything ‘gel’ together” and then printed into food that “will appear solid but will literally ‘melt’ in the person’s mouth”.
The seneoPro line is reportedly undergoing testing as part of the PERFORMANCE project – an ongoing EU-funded initiative that aims to develop “healthy and holistic food sources for seniors dealing with dysphagia”, with the project aiming to have a working process for creating the soft foods using a 3D printer “sometime in 2015”.