Is 3D printing the future for meat alternatives?

3D printing technology and its ramifications for the meat - and meat-alternative - industries.

Technological breakthrough promises to revolutionize the way alternatives to meat are produced within a few short years. 3D printing technology is still in its infancy, but things are developing rapidly and investment money is coming in to speed up the process even further.

REDIFINE MEAT

Right at the forefront of this charge is Israel-based Redefine Meat. Redefine Meat has created equipment that allows it to create finished food by 'additive manufacturing' - atom-by-atom or ingredient-by-ingredient layering of an object based on a digital file. Its "revolutionary alternative-meat 3D printer is set to be launched next year .

And given the rapid growth seen in that area, it is perhaps no surprise that new backers have got this segment in mind when opening their wallets. Germany's largest poultry company PHW-Gruppe joined a US$6m funding round for Redefine Meats. Eshchar Ben-Shitrit, co-founder and CEO of Redefine Meat, which was only founded last year, says the company wants to use the investment cash on its technology to help it develop, produce and scale its offering.

What Redefine Meat is doing is a different way of developing food. It start off with something small and by adding things make it big. Instead of mixing ingredients together it compile them, build a file and determine what the ingredients will be. It is really a robot that knows how to transform orders into actions and gives us total control over what we eat.

NOVAMEAT

Barcelona-based Novameat is another business at the forefront of this technology and, it has recently received an injection of capital, from foodtech investment firm New Crop Capital.

Novameat came to attention through the production of the world's first 3D-printed plant-based beefsteak in 2018. The company, founded by biomedical engineering specialist Giuseppe Scionti, plans to use its new funds to accelerate the development of fibrous-textured meat replacements. They want to use the technology instead of using their extruders, to help them avoid the use of soy and wheat gluten. They want to use pea protein and rice protein and that doesn't work with their extruders. Novameat’s

micro extrusion technology can be used to create fibrous or muscle-cut meat or meat substitutes which would work with their machines. Plant-based meat manufacturers can have access to something that creates the texture and taste of a steak.

According to redefined meat Israel will be their first market as meat prices are extremely high and the percentage of people looking for alternatives is one of the highest in the world.

Roisin Burke, a 3D printing expert at Ireland's Technological University Dublin, said "It can develop any recipe you like as it uses compounds as building blocks to create a new food that doesn't exist. It can be designed anyway you want and it can make sure the protein content is the same as meat". "The technology has become more sophisticated and it's getting cheaper all the time. Chefs are becoming involved as well so the food is tasting better."

                                                                                                              By Richika