Enable breadcrumbs token at /includes/pageheader.html.twig

U.S. Army Ponders 3-D Printed Food For Troops

The U.S. Army has not begun using a 3-D printer for food—yet. But scientists at the Natick Research Center have the idea and the funding to research the potential capabilities of 3-D food printers.

If it’s said good things come in small packages, imagine the edible delights that might come from a 3-D printer.

One day, it might not be left to the imagination as scientists from the U.S. Army’s Natick Research Center are studying just that—printed food. (We wonder if the heated toner smell will be optional.)

The Army has not begun printing food; in fact, it does not yet have a printer. But it has the idea and the funding for next year to research the potential capabilities of 3-D food printers.

This summer, officials at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) embarked on a scheme to add pizza to its Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) menu, calling it shelf stable pizza (SSP) with a shelf life of three years.

“The mission of (Combat Feeding Directorate’s) Food Processing, Engineering and Technology team is to advance novel food technologies,” says Lauren Oleksyk, who leads the CFD’s research team. “The technologies may or may not originate at NSRDEC, but we will advance them as needed to make them suitable for military field feeding needs. We will do what we can to make them suitable for both military and commercial applications.”

The project nexus boils down to financial savings. It could drive down costs as the service prints food on demand. “For example, you would like a sandwich, where I would like ravioli,” says NSRDEC food technologist Mary Scerra. “You would print what you want and eliminate wasted food.”

Already, manufacturers use 3-D printers for candies and chocolates. The concept could extend to 3-D printing of meat or meat alternatives based on a plant containing a similar protein, Oleksyk says in a press release. “We have a three-year shelf-life requirement for the MRE. We’re interested in maybe printing food that is tailored to a soldier’s nutritional needs and then applying another novel process to render it shelf stable, if needed.”

Some current 3-D printed foods are made of a paste layered on top of one another to create mass.

“We are thinking as troops move forward, we could provide a process or a compact printer that would allow soldiers to print food on demand using ingredients that are provided to them, or even that they could forage for,” Oleksyk says. “This is looking far into the future.”