3D printing to modulate the texture of starch-based food

Food 3D Printing is a novel additive manufacturing process that allows fabricating three-dimensional food products with customized shape, structure or composition. This technology was used in this study to create semi-solid bite-size food made of pre-gelatinized starch with engineered size, number of pores, and pore size. Me-chanical, and geometrical properties of the prints were quantified by uniaxial compression tests and X-Ray to-mography. Finally, an in-vitro set-up was used to investigate the combined effect of food hydration and uniaxial compression, in conditions inspired by tongue-palate compression.The hydration of the starch prints leads to a drastic change in mechanical properties. Most 3D printed food designs yield and collapse under a uniaxial compression of 10 kPa, applied to mimic the squeezing of the food between the palate and the tongue. After breakage, starch dispersion increases rapidly due to the higher surface area in contact with the liquid, and the yielding point depends on the internal structure and height. Structures with a higher initial surface area in contact with the liquid have a lower yielding point, probably due to the faster hydration.These results help understanding the dynamics of semi-solid food destructuration during oral processing and the approach developed could provide useful insights when developing food products for specific consumer needs.