Abstract:
3D printing is the latest novel technology for developing complex food and other non-food items in an easy way. Engineered food products are gaining increased importance due to the advantages it offers. This novel technology can be better utilized for developing food products for different category of people including geriatric food with nutrient supplementation. Fishes are best suited for nutritional studies to overcome nutrient deficiencies due to proven and perfectly balanced nutrients like lipids, protein, vitamins and minerals in fish. The proteins, being easily digestible, are rich in essential amino acids that can act as anti-oxidant elements in various industries. The nutrition- based studies have categorised fish and its products as one of the food groups capable of performing vital roles like prevention of numerous disease symptoms upon consumption. Fishes are also a good source of poly unsaturated fatty acids like Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which are known to prevent ailments related to cardiovascular and coronary heart diseases and hence many countries have recommended including fish in their nutritional and daily food consumption chart. Formulations used for 3D food printing including fish and any other ingredients need to be optimized for better results. A detailed study carried out include valorizing fishery waste to extract minerals from fish bone and molluscan shell, extraction and use of fish oil as source of essential fatty acids. Palmitic acid was the predominant saturated fatty acid in the oil extracted from Indian oil sardine and mixed variety fish oil whereas DHA and EPA content were the predominant polyunsaturated fatty acids. DHA content of 12.66 and 14.33 and EPA content of 7.81 and 7.4%, for sardine oil and oil extracted from mixed varieties, respectively, indicating good source of these essential fatty acids. Ratio of EPA+DHA, health promoting index was found to be better for oil extracted from mixed varieties compared to sardine oil alone. Bio-calcium extracted from fish bones exhibited 19,277.27 ppm calcium and 76,179.79 ppm phosphorus, whereas clam shell powder showed higher calcium content (19,982.56 ppm) with relatively lower phosphorus levels. The high ash content confirmed the predominance of calcium carbonate. Heavy metals (Hg, Cd, Pb, and As) were below permissible limits. Zeta potential values (−8.8 to −9.5 mV) indicated moderately stable suspensions. Fish bones and clam shells represent promising sources of bio-calcium, with fish bone-extracted calcium providing a balanced mineral source of both calcium and phosphorus. These findings indicate the potential application of bio calcium in food fortification and sustainable valorisation of fishery discards especially for 3D printed fabricated food products.
The extracted essential nutrients components were incorporated into 3D food printing formulations and printing parameters optimization and end product evaluation were carried out. The formulations were developed from both fresh and canned fish mince of coryphaena hippurus along with the ingredients like corn flour and egg white. Marine oil from Indian oil sardine (sardinella longiceps) was incorporated to the formulations. Open source 3D software was used for plotting shark fish design for printing. The optimized formulation with various ingredients resulted in the 3D printed product of appreciable quality. No significant loss in the polyunsaturated fatty acids and minerals were observed for the product upon baking, indicating its suitability for the developing fortified fish products. The study confirms that the valorised marine ingredients can be incorporated in the development of 3D printed functional food products of acceptable quality.