Dive Brief:
- A Dutch concept designer has figured out how to use a 3D printer to create a novel healthy snack, called Edible Growth, which is a pastry snack that can nurture its own mushroom and spinach plant filling.
- The snack includes an edible 3D-printed dough case filled with seeds, yeast, spores, and an edible soil material that takes only a few days to produce its own vegetable filling. The designer says it would be more nutrient-rich than even healthy conventional snacks.
- This is still only a concept, as it will likely take years of food safety research to gain approval, but it could be a specialty snack seen in health food stores in the future.
Dive Insight:
3D printed food is on its way to becoming a reality with inventions like the Foodini — even Hershey is exploring 3D printing liquid chocolate. As soon as the FDA can approve more certifiably safe materials to handle and produce 3D foods, it is possible this industry could explode within the coming decades.