Texture engineering of aquatic protein-based products via 3D food printing
Journal article, 2025

The versatility of 3D printing in digital design and material deposition explored to adjust the internal architecture of a large portion of a protein-based food. The effect of infill density, printing pathways and their combination in customizing textural properties of model products made of proteins from fish side streams were systematically investigated. A direct correlation between the infill density and uniaxial firmness of the printed objects was found. Using different printing pathways across the Z-axis showed that parallel printing pattern can produce anisotropic textures in macroscale. This was due to a nonhomogeneous load of materials in parallel with the printing pathways, compared with its perpendicular direction in mesoscale, as revealed with microtomography imaging. Using cross printing pathway design was found as a way to achieve isotropic textures. Finally, using a combination of infill density and printing pathways across the X, Y axis and vertically in a non-parallel manner within a large portion of a product was proven as a new route to achieve a customizable texture profile in different parts of a single product. Altogether, our results demonstrated new possibilities for the development of protein-based products with customized heterogenous textures, closer to those in muscle, using the 3D printing technology.

Protein texturization

Marine proteins

3D printing

Herring

Anisotropic texture

Personalized food

Author

Mehdi Abdollahi

Chalmers, Life Sciences, Food and Nutrition Science

Maaike Nieuwland

Wageningen University and Research

Kjeld van Bommel

Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO)

Laurice Pouvreau

Wageningen University and Research

Anna Ström

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

Ingrid Undeland

Chalmers, Life Sciences, Food and Nutrition Science

Future Foods

26668335 (eISSN)

Vol. 11 100604

Tying blue and green resources via 3D food printing for diverse and sustainable future foods

Formas (2021-02349), 2022-01-01 -- 2025-11-30.

Towards a new generation sustainable seafood products–a cross-process approach (CROSS)

Formas (2016-00246), 2016-01-01 -- 2021-12-31.

Subject Categories (SSIF 2025)

Chemical Sciences

Materials Engineering

DOI

10.1016/j.fufo.2025.100604

More information

Latest update

4/2/2025 5