3D food printing: a healthier alternative to ready meals?

The search for healthier and more exciting alternatives to microwave pre-packaged meals might be over, as future-focused 3D printed food claims to be exactly what healthy-minded eaters have been looking for.

Start-up company Natural Machines launched 3D food printer Foodini in 2016, which aims to encourage people to eat healthier homemade food, using real, fresh, and natural ingredients. Foodini prints several ready-to-cook foods including ravioli, burgers, chicken nuggets, and cookies, offering consumers a quick, customisable ready-meal option tailored to individual dietary needs.

Driven by today’s hectic, time-pressed schedules, finding the time to cook a meal from scratch has turned into a modern-day luxury for many consumers. Spending less time preparing food at home has often meant eating low-quality, pre-packaged, processed food. 

According to GlobalData’s consumer research in 2016, nearly three-quarters (71%) of millennials in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties say that cooking a meal from scratch is their preferred approach, yet a staggering two-thirds (66%) of these consumers admit to heavily relying on time-saving products and services.

The futuristic, forward-looking concept of 3D food printing could potentially revolutionise the way we prepare food at home. This concept is also perceived positively among many consumers, with just over two in five (41%) of global consumers are warming up to the idea of using a 3D printer to produce their own food and drink at the convenience of their home, according to GlobalData’s consumer research from 2016.

However, before 3D printed food becomes the next healthy alternative, companies such as Natural Machines need to add the ability to cook to their innovations. Once mastered, these smart appliances might easily take over our kitchen’s counter spot currently taken by the microwave.