Advanced 3D Food Printing with Simultaneous Cooking and Generative AI Design
Connie Kong Wai Lee, Yang Xu, Qiaoyaxiao Yuan, Yee Him Timothy Chan, Wing Yan Poon, Haosong Zhong, Siyu Chen, Guijun Li
Abstract
3D food printing is an indispensable technology for emerging food technologies. However, conventional nonconcurrent postprocessing methods limit the final food quality, including the unappealing nature of food ink modification, imperfections in retaining the desired food shape, and the risk of microbial contamination. Here, an artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced solution is developed to achieve extrusion-based printing with simultaneous infrared heating, enabling in-line and rapid cooking of complex starch-based food. Noncontact graphene heaters as cooking sources present outstanding food quality control with microbial studies, microstructure analysis, and heat transfer simulation models. This integrative 3D food printing method with AI-enhanced food pattern generation and in-situ cooking significantly expands the applications for customized food creation. It paves the way for the broader adoption of heating-based 3D printing of functional materials.