Variables affecting the printability of foods: Preliminary tests on cereal-based products

3D printing technology was employed to obtain cereal-based snacks having a desired shape and dimension. The printability of the dough and the quality of cooked samples were studied as a function of two main variables: infill percentage and layer height. The obtained snacks well matched the designed structures but some dimensional changes were observed. The increase of layer height produced a reduction in the height of samples from 20 to 18 mm, as well as an increase of their diameter from 15.5 to 19 mm. This was attributed to the irregular deposition of the dough as the layer height increased. On the other hand, the infill level was more important for the changes in solid fraction of both raw and cooked snacks exhibiting values of ∼ 84% and ∼ 24%, respectively. The breaking strength of samples was strongly related to the infill level, although a significant variability resided in the level of layer height used during 3D printing. Recently, the interest in ‘personalized food formula’ has been exponentially increasing. With this term we refer to the customization of food in terms of shape, dimension, internal structure, nutritional values, taste, etc. 3D printing is considered a very promising technology to produce 3D food structures with desired dimensional, sensorial and nutritional properties. However, before applying 3D food printing for catering services or large industrial scale, a better understanding of the effects of printing variables on the quality of 3D food structure is required.