Application Prospect of 3D Printing Technology in the Food Intelligent Manufacturing

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, had been used in many fields, such as medicine, construction, automobile industries and so on. In recent years, 3D printing technology in food industry had developed rapidly, as with the diversification of the 3D printing forms. This paper introduced the working principle, application range, advantages and limitations, market application of the extrusion, powder binding and inkjet food 3D printing. Three food materials property related critical factors were suggested here for the rational design of 3D food structures: printability, applicability and post-processing. At present, the factors restricting the development of food 3D printing technology were the limitations and liquidity of printing materials, the printing speed, the stability of the printed model and so on. We suggest that it is urgent to strengthen the combination of food nutrition science with 3D printing and searching breakthroughs on personalized nutrition food manufacturing. We look forward to seeing a new revolution in the food intelligent manufacturing industry launch by 3D printing technology.