What about 3D printed food and fixing the traditional food supply chain?
Two news articles took the industry by surprise yesterday. KFC making moves to add 3D printed chicken nuggets to its menu, followed by Mike Tyson’s The Ranch Companies investing in 3D printable cannabis edibles. Allow us to explain why these two developments really matter. To get there, we must first discuss how they work.
The 3D Printed nugget
KFC partnered with Russian research lab, 3D Bioprinting Solutions, to develop laboratory-produced 3D printed chicken nuggets. Using chicken cells and plant-based materials, they expect to mimic KFC’s chicken nuggets flavor.
Why this matter? Animal cruelty, additives, and nutritional value
We’ll be the first to admit that the phrase, “laboratory-produced 3D printed chicken nuggets” doesn’t sound too appetizing but it is the future of food, especially proteins. Manufacturing food additively not only allows to include the same macro and micronutrients you get from eating chicken but also leaves additives such as growth hormones out of the equation. Experts not only agree that it might be healthier for you but could also be a solution towards a more ethical food production process by becoming a scalable alternative to slaughterhouses.
The 3D Printed cannabis drink
On the other side, The Ranch Companies partnered with Smart Cups to develop a 3D printed cannabis drink. According to Smart Cups, their 3D printing technology is able to turn any kind of beverage into a substrate. By embedding that substrate to a bioplastic cup, consumers are able to enjoy any kind of drink by just adding water. The idea behind this partnership is to develop dosage-specific cannabis drinks for medical purposes.
Why this matter? The personalization of medical dosage
Ranch Companies’ interest in this technology is the standardization of cannabis dosage in drinks for medical purposes. Innovation in medical dosage delivery could trigger plenty of new innovative products within the medical industry and not exclusively to cannabis. For example, Smart Cups technology could also be used to develop medical pods that dissolve when they come in contact with saliva and thus becoming an alternative to hard to swallow pills.
As the additive manufacturing industry keeps maturing, we can only expect more and more partnerships such as this with the purpose of developing innovative solutions to worldwide or local problems. Here in Tredé we look forward to this new normal in the near future.
References:
KFC moves to add 3D-printed chicken nuggets with lab-grown meat to its menu via Mashable
Mike Tyson has high hopes for 3D-printed cannabis drink via The 3D Printing Industry
