Temperature controlled cryoprinting of food for dysphagia patients

Leo Lou, Cristina Bilbao-Sainz, Delilah Wood, Boris Rubinsky

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Temperature Controlled Cryoprinting (TCC), employs temperature-controlled freezing to generate a desired ice crystal microstructures in each printed voxel, to yield a 3D printed bioproduct with intended microstructure. We introduce the use of TCC, originally developed for tissue engineering, for food manufacturing. TCC was used to make a beef product with anisotropic texture, for people with dysphagia (food swallowing difficulties). The effects of printing, cross-linking order, and directional freezing rates on the microstructure, viscoelastic and textural properties of TCC beef, were examined. Scanning electron microscopy shows that when directional freezing occurred before cross-linking, the microstructure consists of anisotropic alternating ridges of beef material with elongated pores parallel to the freezing direction. Shear stress tests confirmed that the meat had solid-like behavior and textural anisotropy, a desirable property lacking in conventional isotropic dysphagia foods. International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative tests categorize the TCC beef as level 6 (soft and bite-sized) food. Industrial relevance: The TCC technology can be used to provide texture and anisotropic microstructure to a variety of isotropic food products, such as ground meat, alternative meat or synthetic meat. The TCC technology could be also used for one-step process that combines manufacturing and freezing of foods.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number103362
JournalInnovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies
Volume86
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
NSF Engineering Research Center for Advanced Technologies for Preservation of Biological Systems (ATP-Bio) NSF EEC#1941543.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023

Keywords

  • 3D cryoprinting
  • Anisotropic texture
  • Beef
  • Dysphagia
  • Microstructure
  • Temperature controlled cryoprinting

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