Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Chiara Cecchini

Making the Impossible Possible: the Power of Upcycling

Story adapted from Food Shapers, a collection of books produced by The Future Food Institute that follow the journey of 20 food researchers on the 2018 Food Innovation Global Mission.

Food systems are complex due to a dense network of relationships between humans and nature: they cover the entire globe connecting local agricultural contexts and the biggest cities in the world, and they involve the entire global population, from farmers to consumers.

The present food system is unable to provide sufficient healthy and sustainable food for the global population. According to The Global FootPrint Network, current human consumption exceeds the Earth’s biocapacity (our ability to regenerate the resources that the global population requires each year) by 1.7 planets and food demand takes up 26% of the global ecological footprint.

And while our food demand continues to increase, an estimated one-third of global food production currently goes to waste, according to The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

This waste occurs throughout different phases of the supply chain, from farmer to consumer, and are influenced by two main factors: process inefficiency (e.g., spent grain discarded in the brewing process), and quality and aesthetic product standards (e.g., only specific potato sizes can be used to make french fries, while the rest are discarded).

One way companies and startups are beginning to tackle waste management is through the innovative concept of upcycling — creating new value by remaking wasted food into new products, starting with acquisition (collecting materials after consumer use to establish pathways to material recycling), reprocessing (upcycling material to create new value-added products), and remarketing (identifying markets to sell the upcycled product).

As part of the Food Innovation Global Mission 2018, our research team and authors of Food Shapers: Scalable Sustainability and Circular Systems identified “reducing food waste” as one of four critical patterns of sustainable food systems, and went in search of the most innovative and impactful upcycling projects in the 12 main food hubs — from The Netherlands to New York to Hong Kong — we visited around the world.

Through interviewing and interacting with more than 200 “food shapers,” we learned how many of these innovators are rethinking value creation by aligning incentives and revenue mechanisms to leverage sustainable solutions. And while traditional circular business models and strategies have tended to focus on the physical aspects of a product (e.g., disassembly, material selection), these companies are adopting a regenerative approach to resource management that also views humans as vital resources in the food system. These case studies taught us that by involving the human element in a circular framework, we can influence perceptions of waste and behavior change to enhance value in our communities.

Here are just some of the inspiring food heroes and new companies that are inspiring us with their unique approaches to upcycling:

De Verspillingsfabriek (The Netherlands)

“Why is a product only worthy if it’s perfect? Doesn’t a vibrant product or a dynamic service have much more value?” says Bob Hutten, General Manager of De Verspillingsfabriek. Hutten first started the food waste factory in 2016 as a collaborative think tank for tackling food waste. Today, De Verspillingsfabriek takes rescued food from big companies from the agro-food sector and optimizes their waste by reprocessing it into delicious stocks, soups, and sauces, adding new value to the market. These upcycled new food products are repackaged with recipes and remarked under fun branding called Barstensvol, meaning “packed with” in Dutch. With the help of their many partners, the food waste factory continues to facilitate projects that close food waste loops. The company Milgro, for example, supplies weighing stations for measurements and data analysis to gain insights on process and capacity. Students at Wageningen University, a knowledge partner, have developed a platform for collaborating on new solutions for preventing waste.

De Verspillingsfabriek serves as an encouraging example of a company that not only upcycles undervalued flows of food waste but undervalued information and human resources as well. In addition to “no wasted food,” De Verspillingsfabriek also stands for “no wasted talent” and “no wasted location” by employing people with disabilities, creating equal opportunity workspaces to prevent a waste of human resource and talent. Moreover, the waste factory is located in the THREE-SIXTY building, an innovation center for the circular economy. The building was abandoned for ten years before Hutten revitalized it to design a space for entrepreneurs and startups to develop innovative concepts in the field of food waste and social innovation.

Instock (The Netherlands)

Instock started as a pop-up in 2014 after the four founders, who were all working at the Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn, formed a team to fight food waste. They started collecting and turning unsold fruits, vegetables, bread, meat, and fish from more than 80 Albert Heijn supermarkets and delivering it to a food rescue center where unsold products (mostly veggies and fruit) are sorted based on quality and then listed on their online store for partner restaurants. InStock has helped innovate manufactured products made from food waste, such as their beer products Pieper Bier made from surplus potatoes, and Bammetjes Bier made from old bread, as well as granola made from spent grain.

Instock now runs three successful restaurant locations in Amsterdam, The Hague, and Utrech, as well as a food rescue distribution center and online platform. The cash flow is invested in rescue center workers who sort food and transport food waste. Instock restaurants use their unsold produce to create gourmet dishes using creative culinary techniques. Their chefs create “harvest of the day” tasting menus with the repurposed ingredients using techniques such as fermentation and dehydration to enhance flavors and increase shelf life. It’s a niche market, but by expanding into food distribution and retail, they are also entering homes and have also published the cookbook “Instock Cooking,” which illustrates how to utilize all parts of the food to prevent waste.

Dyelicious (Hong Kong)

One day, while eating curry and spilling some of it on his clothes, Eric Cheung had an epiphany —  he realized that he could create value from food waste by converting it into colors and dyes in the fashion industry. “My dream is to go out of business because there is no more food waste,” says Eric Cheung, founder of Dyelicious in Hong Kong, which wastes 3,600 tonnes of food every day, according to the Hong Kong Environment Bureau.

But he soon realized one challenge, he says. Many consumers find food waste, especially from animal feed and fertilizers, unappealing. To attract consumers and involve them in the fight to reduce food waste, Cheung has designed luxury products with the support of popular brands who want to cultivate a more ecological footprint. Dyelicious has since sourced waste from partnering companies in Hong Kong, including Zara, Adidas, Towngas, Starbucks, Calbee, and Hitachio Nest Beer.

For these companies, selling upcycled products portray an image of social responsibility. With the help of the governmental organization Vegetable Marketing Organization (VMO) and other partners, Dyelicious combines stories with food design as a marketing strategy that has powerful impacts. Between 2016 and 2017, Dyelicious has successfully upcycled 500-600 tons of waste. Dyelicious has also partnered with schools to replace their chemical paints with safer, edible products that have no added metallic substances, as well as host workshops for families and kids at retail stores in Hong Kong’s historic PMQ.

 

E-farm (Hong Kong)

KM Chan uses the black soldier fly to solve food waste problems. A former banker, Chan became increasingly interested in the future of protein. He witnessed the problem of food waste in Hong Kong and decided to combine these issues and form new sustainable solution in the agri-food sector.

E-farm raises public awareness of environmental protection through educational workshops, talks, and eco-tours. The farm also conducts research on sustainable agriculture and shares their findings with the public to promote community gardening and strengthen the bonds between organic farmers.

Chan’s 1,000 square-foot facility is located in the middle of E-farm, a 50,000 square foot farm located inside the Pat Sin Leng Country Park and surrounded by a branch of the Tan Shan River. Chan’s team collects food waste from local primary schools and coffee companies each day. About 100 kgs of food are wasted daily from local primary schools. Sorting food waste is the main challenge as food is mixed with plastics and other non-biodegradable materials. Educating students about the sorting and composting process is one of the first steps to creating a sustainable composting model. The food waste is delivered to a shared space on the farm to be pulped and composted. Larvae of the black soldier fly, which consumes the compost, is then harvested and fed to fish. Lab samples have been tested for further research if this method is safe for human consumption.

Rise Products (New York)

Rise Products is a startup based out of New York that converts spent grain from breweries into an upcycled flour. Spent grain is a byproduct of brewing that is rich in dietary fiber and protein.

Around 42 million tonnes of spent grain is wasted, globally. Rise aims at creating these new upcycled products for bakers, chefs, and food manufacturers. Their patented technology will allow them to expand from just brewing waste to grape pomace, coffee grinds, Okara0 soy milk by-product, and fruit pulp and rind.

Rise uses Uber to pick up waste from its facility in Queens. The brewers directly transfer the food waste from the boilers to food grade containers. Once at the processing facility, the grain is pressed to remove moisture and dry it out and decreases particle size to create the flour. Rise sells its products to industries and food manufacturers that use this upcycled flour for creating new products. They market the product as “Super Flour,” which has 12 times the fiber, two times the protein and one-third the carbs compared to all-purpose flour. Rise also sells a barley flour made from the spent grain of IPA or pilsner, as well as a “dark edition” barley flour made from the spent grain of stout or porter. They have also recently introduced a new brownie mix into retail.

Having had the opportunity to explore and be motivated by all these practices around the world, we can spotlight several elements supporting our food system in a positive transition. Impact can be created with three different approaches: standalone intervention, bringing a new product or service to market; system innovation, creating or altering existing systems to bring about change; and cultural transformation, transforming the attitudes and behaviors of a community. Furthermore, the needed expertise involves spans across individuals, organizations with interdisciplinary teams and cross-collaborations across the supply chain. Collaboration and interdisciplinary seem to be the key elements which are constantly needed to create and accelerate a change. Finally, as previously mentioned, the keystone for a successful initiative seems to be the ability to align incentives and revenue mechanisms, making sustainable models not only economically viable, but appealing for businesses.

CRISPR is Coming to Our Plates

A new technique is sneaking in our lives, potentially changing the foods we eat every day. From growing resilient crops, to boosting flavor to tackling allergens like gluten, gene-edited food brings to the table a new opportunity to improve health and pleasure, as well as fight climate change. And, most importantly, many scientists say they’re working only with nature’s own tools. Given the impressive change this could potentially bring to our farms, supermarkets and tables, let’s explore how gene-editing could change the world, and the challenging questions we should be asking.  

On March 28, 2018, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) with the guidance of the US Food and Drug Agency (FDA) made a big step, saying certain gene-edited plants can be designed, cultivated, and sold free from regulation. Going more into detail, biotechnology regulations state that USDA does not regulate or have any plans to regulate plants that could otherwise have been developed through traditional breeding techniques as long as they are not plant pests or developed using plant pests. This includes a set of new techniques that are increasingly being used by plant breeders to produce new plant varieties that are indistinguishable from those developed through traditional breeding methods. Among them, CRISPR.

CRISPR is a kind of molecular scissors that scientists can use to change or delete DNA sequences. The tool has been best known for its potential to prevent disease and fight cancer. But now it is being used to improve corn, wheat, rice, mushrooms, and other products. It could lead to hardier, more plentiful crops and tastier, cheaper, more nutritious food. Could CRISPR merely be a faster way of achieving what farmers have long accomplished with traditional techniques, such as seed selection, cross-breeding or mutagenesis? Probably, yes. But it’s not just this.

The possible applications are countless, from reducing food waste, water, and land usage to providing healthier fats to consumers. Some companies plan to use the popular new technology to give fruits and vegetables a longer shelf life. If successful, this could help prevent the sort of waste that comes from people tossing out vegetables and fruits deemed to be damaged or old. Each year, consumers throw away an estimated 400 million pounds of bruised and brown potatoes. The volume of waste grows substantially when you consider all of the other things we eat.

Scientists at Calyxt, a subsidiary of the French pharmaceutical firm Cellectis, developed a soybean by “turning off” the genes responsible for the trans fats in soybean oil. Compared with the conventional version, Calyxt says, oil made from this soybean boasts far more “healthy” fats and far less of the fats that raise bad cholesterol. Pennsylvania State University has developed mushrooms that do not brown, and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has created tomatoes suited for shorter growing seasons. Meanwhile, other universities around the country are working on plants that will withstand droughts, diseases and the ravages of climate change. Such improvements, underway in crops as diverse as oranges, wine grapes, and cacao, could protect these plants in the future while cutting down water and chemical use, experts say.

The upsides are, therefore, quite impressive. We can imagine a not-so-distant future where new resilient crops help feed the global population, farms can overcome challenges of climate change, and we enjoy nutritious food that can prevent and fight disease.

But wait a minute, are we talking about GMOs?

The short answer is no. The difference between genetically modified organisms and gene-edited crops is the fact that the latter do not contain foreign genetic material and were not made using the bacteria or viruses that scientists employed in the first-generation GMOs. In the US, the way they are regulated is different, indeed. The FDA made a sharp separation between the two cases, saying that its authority extends only to earlier genetically modified organisms methods because it’s charged with protecting plants from infections and pests. Different is the situation in Europe, where in late July, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) came to the opposite conclusion, ruling that gene-edited crops should adhere to the same strict regulations as genetically modified organisms.

Are there proven risks?

According to the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, there is no evidence of adverse health effects directly attributable to consumption of foods derived from gene-edited crops. Studies with animals and research on the chemical composition of genetically engineered (GE) foods currently on the market reveal no differences that would implicate a higher risk to human health and safety than from eating their non-GE counterparts.

The same goes for the environment. The use of insect-resistant or herbicide-resistant crops did not reduce the overall diversity of plant and insect life on farms. However, the complex nature of assessing long-term environmental changes often made it difficult to reach definitive conclusions.

But just like with GMOs, many argue that consumers deserve a mandatory regulatory process And this is not just for scientific reasons, but for consumer and public safety and confidence.

So, why does everybody seem concerned about gene editing our food?

Lack of background knowledge, a general aversion to ingesting technological products, as well as poor labeling are primary concerns.

Most of us don’t think about it, but almost all American-grown corn and soybeans come from genetically modified seed. Wheel your cart around a supermarket, and you’ll push past aisles of GMO foods, such as bread, cereals, and crackers, as well as yogurt, milk and meat. Even cheese is made from genetically engineered rennet — the enzyme that curdles milk — instead of traditional rennet from animal stomachs.

Finally, labeling is a crucial topic. In 2016, the U.S. Congress passed a law requiring food producers to label GMOs on their food products, but those rules may not apply to new GE foods. For example, Calyxt has actually labeled its soybean oil as “non-GMO,” stating that it contains no foreign genetic material.

Unlike older genetic modification methods, the new techniques are precise, fast and inexpensive, and companies hope they will avoid the negative reputation and regulatory hurdles that hobbled the first generation of genetically modified foods. But the speed of change has startled consumer and environmental groups who say the new technology has not been adequately vetted, and they have raised alarms over labeling and petitioned regulators to add further safety reviews.

“This is hard stuff,” Federico Tripodi, Calyxt’s chief executive, told The Washington Post. “Consumers accept that technology is good in many aspects of their lives, but technology and food have been something scary. We need to figure out how to engage in that conversation.”

Edible Carving: The World’s First 3D Printing Restaurant

3D printing has become the 21st century’s new manufacturing tool and is regularly applied in industries such as aerospace, automotive, fashion and healthcare, but in the last few years it has also made its way into professional kitchens. FOODINK is one key example of a company pioneering the use of food 3D printing and its founder, Antony Dobrzensky, believes the technology is an unstoppable force for the food industry.

FOODINK’s best known project and biggest milestone so far is “the world’s first 3D printing restaurant,” where everything is 3D printed on site, including the tables and chairs, the utensils and the food – all nine courses of it! The premiere took place in in Shoreditch, London, lasted three days and hosted 12 guests per day. The restaurant was later showcased in Barcelona and is now set for more worldwide destinations.

The idea was conceived and executed by Dobrzensky, (entrepreneur, technologist, investor) and his multi-talented international team, including chefs Mateu Blanch of Spanish molecular gastronomy restaurant La Boscana, and Joel Castanye an elBulli alumni with Arthur Mamou-Mani as the design advisor. Aside from this core team, Dobrzensky also brings in an outer circle of architects, artists, chefs, designers, engineers, futurists, industrials, inventors and technologists for advice and guidance.

The 3D printers themselves are made by ByFlow, a company based in Maastricht in The Netherlands. ByFlow has specialized in 3D printing since 2009 and in 2015 they developed a 3D food printer called ‘Focus’ which quickly entered the food industry. It’s no wonder FOODINK has partnered with the Dutch company as it says on their official website they believe “we can change the way people make and experience food.” For Dobrzensky too, 3D food printing isn’t just a throwaway trend and he says his team has devoted their knowledge, expertise and creativity to ensure that this revolutionary vision becomes a present experience.

The idea of 3D printed food may seem far fetched or perhaps something for the distant future, but when you consider the drastic changes already happening in the food industry now you can see why restaurants are interested. For example, flavour matters, but in a world dominated by images, what food looks like is becoming more and more important. According to a recent study by Maru/Matchbox 69 percent of millennials take photos of their food before eating it and many of those will be uploaded to social media. It’s no surprise then that Instagram has the power to influence the food we eat and the environment we eat it in. The prosperity for a certain image to go viral is driving restaurants to serve up eye catching dishes and fancy decorative drinks. FOODINK has shown that a 3D food printer can really help a restaurant stand out from competitors by creating new food designs which are impossible to do by hand or with traditional techniques.

Often food can compromise on flavour when the goal is to make it photogenic but for Dobrzsensky he believes they have found a way to not only retain a delicious taste but to keep it nutritious. When asked in a munchies interview, Dobrzsensky stated that “This food is made from all-natural ingredients and is more healthy and nutritious than food in other restaurants.” Chef Castanye adds that “We use the same ingredients but just served in a different way.” It seems that one of the most important factors to FOODINK’s approach is that they don’t disregard the chef and he/she still plays a pivotal role in the process. The fresh ingredients need to be chosen, cooked, blended and put in to tubes and there needs to be the right consistency in order to print successfully.

Food 3D printing is an exciting move for the world of food and technology and there’s a lot of potential. The stage for this change wasn’t set overnight. Years of innovation has led to the precipice of the food 3D printing revolution, and it seems that it is just a matter of time before we see advancements in speed and material capabilities that together will push the  technology in to a more user friendly domain. At some point, it might be as common to find a food 3D printer in a restaurant as it is to find a thermomix. We can only wait and see!

 

Edible Carving: Eating an Ecosystem

Edible Growth is a bite-sized  “mini vegetable garden with crispy plants and mushrooms”. It is also a 3D food printed project created by Eindhoven-based food designer Chloé Rutzerveld whose passion lies in rethinking the ways food is produced and consumed. The concept behind Edible Growth involves a specially printed outer casing made from dough that contains “edible soil” and various organisms (yeast, seeds and spores). Five days after printing, the plants and mushrooms germinate while the yeast ferments the solid inside into a liquid, after which they start to grow and poke through the holes of the casing – at which point it is ready to eat.

Most 3D food printers print using raw materials, which must be processed into a puree, powder or paste so that the printer can successfully extrude the food substance. However, in the case of fruit and vegetables, the process causes a significant decrease in nutritional value and loss of texture. Consequently, it is difficult to print healthy food and most 3D printed food is made from dough, sugar or chocolate. On her website Rutzerveld states that with the rise of more high-tech food and new production methods, consumers are becoming increasingly more concerned about their health as well as the quality and ‘realness’ of their food. This is why Rutzerveld has made it her mission to find a way of 3D food printing healthy, functional food.

Rutzerveld is not just proposing a way of using the 3D food printer as an extruder but wants to refigure the printer as not only a tool to enable natural growth but also to enhance it. Her design is a visualisation of how an edible ecosystem could look and opens up the possibility of a new food category – nutrient rich food that is eaten while still “in growth”. The design is currently a concept as current food printing techniques are not advanced enough and would involve several years of research and development. Nonetheless, there are many people interested in it’s potential. Rutzerveld’s main aim is to stimulate and provoke scientists, food technologists and designers to think differently when creating future food products.

Rutzerveld’s concept is not only a way to make a unique and new type of health food but she also sees how it can have environmental benefits. She foresees the possibility of home growth foods drastically reducing the need and strain on agricultural land. At the same time she believes post harvest and harvest labour would become unnecessary  and that farmers would be the providers of raw materials, not the fruits and vegetables themselves. As a result the consumer would become the farmer and will be more involved in the production of their food, without spending a lot of time gardening.

Edible Growth began in 2014 and has already been showcased in many countries around the world including the US, Asia, Canada and many countries in Europe. It has also been featured in several websites and magazines such as Frame, Mold and Vice. Four years on and the interest in Rutzerveld’s concept is by no means declining. Edible Growth is currently being displayed in Brazil’s Museum of Tomorrow and it is also featured in Rutzerveld’s book which is being launched this month (October 12th) – with world wide availability from early 2019.

Edible Carving: How Nūfood is Bursting on the Food Scene

Nūfood is a 3D food printer making “flavour bursts” to accompany food and drinks. This printer was created by Dovetailed, a startup founded by Vaiva Kalnikaitė with Gabriel Villar as the chief developer. Based in Cambridge, England, at the university’s Idea Space, the company describes itself as an unconventional user experience design studio and innovation lab delivering design thinking and beautifully crafted experiences to innovative companies and global brands. Dovetailed creates technologies for CAD design, self-quantification, everyday memory, internet of things, public visualisations, wearables, behavioural change, experimental dining and of course – food 3D printing.

Nūfood is different from all other food 3D printers in that it prints using liquids. The key difference is that unlike all other food 3D printers nūfood  uses the raw ingredient in liquid form (i.e fruit juice) and not a composite material. The printer is able to make three dimensional structures by using the drops as a building material. It does this by encapsulating each drop within a very thin membrane which allows the drops to stick together. The membrane also gives these foods a unique popping sensation when eaten!

There’s scope to play with shapes and colours. Take a raspberry for example, with the  nūfood printer you can print something that has the exact delicious flavour of a raspberry but design it in a way that is far from its natural form, by making it blue and in the shape of a cube. Dovetailed have said themselves that they like to play with traditional concepts like “strawberries and cream” and have printed the two flavours together in a bite-sized piece.

Making these “flavour burst” foods is easy as the nūfood printer works together with a user friendly phone app. This app allows you to print up to two flavours at once and gives you the chance to design your own pattern or the option to choose from their library – within minutes your food garnish is ready!

The team’s aim is not only to bring the nūfood in to our homes but also to introduce the idea to appliance manufacturers and for them to use their technology and apply it on an industrial scale. In addition, they also see big potential for food and beverage manufacturers looking for new technologies for product development. That can be for making new products from scratch or adding value to their existing line. We can’t wait to see what’s next!

 

Edible Carving: How 3D printers Could Create Your Next Meal

Since its invention in the 1980s, 3D printing technology has evolved at lightning speed. A decade ago, the original technology — where physical objects are printed from 3D digital models — was only reserved for corporations and universities designing prototypes and architectural models. Today, smaller and more affordable, they can be easily seen in kitchens and storefronts, grade schools and homes.

3D food printing has found itself at the forefront of digitally printed objects. Currently, confectioneries around the world are using 3D printers to produce vibrant layers of candy. The culinary world is also using the technology to produce masterful desserts. Some entrepreneurs have gone further and opened restaurants that use 3D food printers to serve gourmet cuisines, such as Food Ink. Recent advancements in the 3D printing industry have also made it possible for these machines not only to print, but to also cook and then serve foods.

Food 3D printing represents a unique opportunity to go beyond aesthetic and tackle transformational change across economies, industries, global issues. Printers could create nutrient-rich and environmentally-friendly food products and even help address hunger problems in areas that need access to quality and affordable ingredients. The technology also creates an opportunity for food customization.

The Basic Principles

Current 3D food printers are designed to deposit small layers of material through a process called additive manufacturing — think of a frosting dispenser except the ingredients are squeezed out, layer by layer, by a robotic arm.

The latest models of 3D food printers are more complex and detailed. Examples of such devices are those used in the candy and baking industries. The 3D printer ChefJet crystallizes small layers of sugar into several geometric configurations, while Choc-Edge dispenses chocolate from syringes into intricate, delectable designs. Some advanced printers, such as The Foodini, use fresh ingredients filled in stainless steel containers to make different types of foods like stuffed pasta, pizza, brownies, and quiche.

Suffice it to say, 3D food printing technology is still developing and may hit new strides that will change food and the way people eat. But what does the future hold for 3D food printing? Will 3D food printers impact the food industry?

The Future: Customization and Health Impact

3D food printing is braced to have a big impact on the food industry. According to a 2018 Research Nester report, the 3D food printing market is expected to to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 50 percent during the period 2017-2024, and is expected to reach $400 million by 2024. The research suggests that the market growth is driven by two main factors: an increased desire for customization and applications from the healthcare sector.

Food industry places are making rapid advances with 3D food printing to ensure individuals and manufacturers can customize food products with regards to nutritional value, flavor, and ingredients. For example, consumers can tailor 3D printed food to their health requirement and taste. With this technology, it is possible to customize food for pregnant women, athletes, children, the elderly — people who commonly have very specific requirements in terms of nutrients. These devices can help people combine the right quantity of carbohydrates, fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients, helping consumers tailor food specifically to their individual dietary needs.

3D food printers can also allow for better control over portion sizes, cutting down on overconsumption and food waste. Moreover, they will have the capacity to turn raw ingredients into a healthy puree, making it easier for people with certain medical conditions who find eating whole foods challenging. German nursing homes are already using 3D food printers to make a pureed food product called “smoothfoods,” a mixture of fresh ingredients made into healthy, delicious molds that resemble their favorite dishes. This process allows the residents to enjoy food without fear of choking, discomfort or pain. There is also WASP, a 3D printing company in Italy, which is producing gluten-free products of popular foods, such as pastries in the shape of gnomes.

The Challenges

Despite the many exciting possibilities of 3D food printing technology, the industry still has challenges to overcome. To print food using the current 3D printer, users must convert their ingredients into a paste. It is the only way the device can manipulate the ingredients. Furthermore, most printers available today are designed for dry and shelf-stable materials, excluding most dairy and protein products that spoil faster. That means every ingredient must be dry otherwise users will have to worry that something could spoil. It is a matter of food safety. And while there is hype about 3D printed food and the technology in general, it is important to measure expectations. In simple terms, we must continue to consider the health, environmental and social impacts of food printing.

The 3D printing examples may seem anecdotal or out of reach, but expect to see more mainstream application of this technology in the future. 3D food printing is more than a fleeting curiosity, it’s a powerful tool that can forever change the way we make, choose and eat food.

As this article on the IQS Directory points out, 3D printing is hot and it’s only going to get hotter. Follow this series in the forthcoming weeks to learn more about some singular food makers who are shaping the food 3d printing space!

The Future of Flavor: Part II

In this two-part series, we explore how flavor may be understood, perceived, and valued in the future, based on insights gained from speaking with industry experts. Part I is more focused on the food system, while Part II delves into new flavor profiling technologies employing big data and AI.

The fact that artificial intelligence and data-driven methods are being harnessed to upgrade kitchens, create new products, and generate supply chain solutions is already old news in the food industry. Innovations in digital flavor profiling, however, have yet to gain widespread traction. Hopefully, that will soon change, as companies like Gastrograph and FlavorWiki are seeking to alter how companies – and by extension, consumers – view flavor.

We at the Future Food Institute spoke to Jason Cohen, founder of Gastrograph, and Daniel Protz, founder of FlavorWiki, to gain more insight into how these digital profiling pioneers are using analytics to reshape the flavor profiling landscape.

Experiencing flavors

We asked Cohen how the role of flavor or taste might change as food becomes increasingly experiential. Cohen thinks the role of flavor itself may not undergo a transformation; rather, the shift lies in the role of data changing how products are developed. “People have always wanted good tasting food, and will continue to purchase the products that taste best to them.” However, as novel techniques are “making it possible to predict perception and preference for the first time,” product developers need to become progressively more aware of how they can take data and predictions into consideration to develop competitive products.

In the past, companies could develop “generally acceptable products,” but as the number of companies and products grow, on both local and global levels, increasingly niche products are required to remain competitive. Cohen firmly believes that companies failing to use modern techniques and data to predict the changing consumer preference of each consumer cohort will be at a disadvantage. Due to increased competition in both old and new markets, companies are reinvesting in the competitive attributes that will bring consumers back to their brands – which, in Food and Beverage (F&B), is flavor.

Personalizing flavors 

Technological advancements extend to personalization. As flavor may be experienced differently by different people, it’s only expected that the flavor becomes something more individualized. Sensory panels that most companies currently use to taste-test products are unrepresentative of general market preference. Gastrograph uses AI and predictive models to identify how different demographics and regions experience and enjoy different flavor profiles. They then utilize that information to optimize new product development, product adaptation, and portfolio management services to companies, taking targeted and cognitive marketing into account to ensure the right products are developed for target consumers.

FlavorWiki, too, is developing flavor-mapping technology that quantifies individual taste perception and preference. Food retailers and producers can then use this data to personalize product development, improve product innovation, and deliver a more engaging food experience. Their founder and CEO, Daniel Protz, believes consumer research is ripe to undergo a transformation.

The goal of consumer research to determine what flavors, textures, and fragrances will be popular with a target market. Companies typically have trained tasters to give feedback on products. It is generally very expensive to conduct this type of research; so much so that the large majority of consumer research in sensory science is done by a few large conglomerates like Nestle and Unilever.

Increasing accessibility

Protz believes “somebody should figure out a way to make this type of research more accessible to smaller companies, to make it faster, to make it more agile,” so that new companies creating products like meat or dairy replacements can develop foods that are both innovative and liked by consumers. FlavorWiki’s methodology enables the profiling of food products by untrained consumers, using an algorithm and data capture methodology developed by a Princeton statistician. A person can taste a product and use the application to profile it, allowing FlavorWiki to obtain profiles from anywhere in the world.

Their profiling technique is more robust than existing consumer research as they can collect a lot of data at a lower cost. They gather information like time of day, age, demographics, where you consumed the product, and what you consumed before the product as well. Outputs may include: what is the level of sweetness, or bitterness, et cetera, in a juice product? Is that product accepted by the group of people the company is testing it with? How much sweeter does it need to be to be accepted? Is that statistically relevant? What is the difference between products A and B, and which do people prefer, and why?

A “flavor profile” can be created for each person, showing their preferences for different flavors. People’s taste preferences can be grouped into taste archetypes, or personas; the archetypes of people who live and work in East Asia will be different from those who grew up in the American midwest. Archetypes can change depending on age and exposure to new foods, and any one person can fall into different archetypes for different types of foods.

In the past, food companies have mass-produced a single product and marketed that product to all types of consumers. With taste archetype data, companies can better target particular archetypes, and consumers can be matched with food products based on their archetypes. It will be easier to tailor products to specific geographic locations. Companies can still mass-produce, albeit on a slightly smaller scale, catering to specific archetypes of a desired market.

Ultimately, FlavorWiki hopes to construct a “taster community platform” where groups of people with certain profiles are given both new products to try before they are released and incentives to provide feedback on products currently on the market. Likely first adopters may be sent food based on on criteria like “vegan” or “dairy free” to review.

The resulting scenario

The future we imagine is one in which digital flavor profiling technologies empower consumers as well as producers, providing us a greater voice in the development of food products. Cohen notes that successful F&B products can have long-term impacts on the future flavors of other goods. If product development becomes more consumer-centric, we may see changes in the way food trends disseminate. In addition, profiling technologies seem to enable consumers to be better arbiters of flavor. Users claim FlavorWiki causes them to think more about what they’re eating; as people become better at recognizing flavor notes, they can gain more appreciation for the food they consume. Due to heightened awareness of flavor on the consumer side, and awareness of predictive technologies and big data on the producer side, flavor may be viewed as an increasingly personalized experience to tap into.

The Future of Flavor (Part I)

In this two-part series, guest contributor Chiara Cecchini explores how flavor may be understood, perceived, and valued in the future, based on insights gained from speaking with industry experts. Part I is more focused on the food system, while Part II delves into new flavor profiling technologies employing big data and AI.

The produce of today is being engineered for color, shape, yield, and shelf life, but it seems like the produce of the future will be optimized for flavor. Horticultural sciences professor Harry Klee is currently breeding a tomato for taste, based on analysis of flavor compounds in heirloom, wild, and modern tomatoes. This endeavor involved sequencing the genomes of over 400 tomato varieties, but his efforts also encompass part of a larger goal. Klee hopes that by understanding the chemical and genetic makeup of flavor in fruits and vegetables we can control the synthesis of flavor compounds and create better-tasting food.

In an age where the average supermarket tomato is watery and lackluster and where the generic pea no longer tastes like spring or the earth, an increased focus on flavor from the production side is most welcome. Peter Klosse, author of The Essence of Gastronomy: Understanding the Flavor of Foods and Beverages, asserts that this change may be driven by consumers’ frustrations with flavorless foods.  “Gradually, we’ve grown to changing our traditional agricultural systems to produce flavorless commodities,” Klosse states; according to Harry Klee in “Improving the flavor of fresh fruits: genomics, biochemistry, and biotechnology“, it is now generally accepted that the flavor quality of many fruits has significantly declined over recent decades. But blandness of products does not seem an issue because the food industry has found a way to solve the problem. This is done by incorporating salt, sugar, fats, and chemical additives to restore flavor that has been bred out of food.

Ultimately, a lack of value for produce’s flavor is where it all starts. Supermarkets, focused on getting food from producers to consumers in the most efficient, least costly means possible, want a consistent supply of consistent quality food. And while several food-tech companies are populating the market trying to provide solutions to meet this needs, Corporate farms, urged to meet industry demands, are forced to sacrifice seasonality and sustainability — and consequently, flavor.

“We have lost biodiversity,” Klosse says. “We have lost a lot of individual quality between farms and regions, we are losing varietal differences.” But consumers are starting to notice, and starting to care. Klosse believes innovation in this field should be focused on moving the food system towards regenerative agriculture.

Regenerative systems, involving maintaining biodiversity and using farming techniques that do not damage soil, are also flavor-rich. Food production today emphasizes efficiency and yield; but if the value of flavor — and subsequently the possibility of earning money by cultivating flavorful produce — is reintroduced, farmers can once again grow foods that are both flavorful and sustainable.

Klee’s research articulates the benefits of the older, more natural agricultural practices which Klosse promotes. His team has discovered that modern tomatoes lack the sweetness and rich flavors of heirloom breeds since flavor compounds have been lost over time; bred out as the genes responsible for producing the volatile flavor chemicals are neglected. Supermarket tomatoes are picturesque, hefty globes of firm red flesh. But bite into one and you’ll find that the tanginess, earthiness, and succulent sweetness associated with tomatoes are, well, absent. Beyond replicating Klee’s experiments by taste-testing a variety of tomatoes, Klosse claims we need palpable proof of concept for a regenerative system to convince the industry of its merits.

In short: we need real examples which you can see and touch. “Start small,” he suggests, “take a comprehensive region within the industry, from farmers to retail to consumers, committed to a new way of thinking, and demonstrate that regenerative systems work.”  In my opinion, if more people come to realize that said systems do in fact work, the food system of tomorrow may be one that combines future understandings and research on flavor compound interactions with past ecologically-friendly practices. If what we believe about flavor becoming increasingly prioritized by producers and consumers holds true, then the future of food is a truly appetizing one which we should look forward to.

Additional insights and contributions to this article were made by Audrey Chen

As with smart kitchens, the potential of technology and big data will be harnessed to provide product development solutions. To see two how innovations in digital flavor profiling and AI-powered analytics are revolutionizing the way companies and consumers alike view flavor, check back soon on The Spoon for the second installation of The Future of Flavor.