Food Layered Manufacture: A new process for constructing solid foods

Additive Manufacturing is a digitally-controlled, robotic construction process which builds up complex solid forms layer by layer, applying phase transitions or chemical reactions to fuse layers together. Examples that utilise food materials (Food Layered Manufacture; FLM) are emerging in the public domain. FLM structuring operations are limited to metering, mixing, deposition and fusion; while materials used in FLM fabrication must have highly-standardised flow and setting properties. Therefore the construction of predictable structures by FLM requires a first-principles, materials science approach to formulation design. FLM is most suited to niche food applications having a strong emphasis on individualised food design or customised manufacturing.