The world is witnessing a surge in demand for plant-based alternatives to meat. To cater to this niche market, Barcelona-based startup Novameat is leveraging 3D printing technology. The firm is manufacturing vegetarian “steaks” and aims to reach the mass market by 2022.
Novameat plans to sell these so-called steaks directly to consumers and to restaurants that wish to serve plant-based meat, business development manager Alexandre Campos told Reuters. The Spanish firm developed this technology in 2018 and showed how its latest 3D printer produces food at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress (MWC).
Cost-effective method to print food
“It didn’t have the feeling of a traditional steak but I was positively surprised because I did not expect that the texture would be so well achieved,” said Ferran Gregori. He tried one of the “steaks” printed at Novameat’s stand at MWC.
Novameat users 3D technology to try out recipes, adding ingredients through capsules, as it is a cost-effective process compared to mass-producing, Campos said. Once a model is successfully made, it could then be produced on a larger scale using big machines not using 3D technology. It can then manufacture up to 500 kg of fake meat in an hour, he added.
Fake meat industry to grow exponentially
Campos said the company aims to produce the muscle fiber of animal meat but only using plant-based ingredients. He predicts the plant-based meat industry would see a boom in the coming years. The company also emphasized the environmental reasons behind producing fake meat. “(We seek to) replace animal meat for something that is better for the planet, ourselves, and animals,” Campos said.
3D printing has also seen much advancement in the last few years. Building medical equipment has become easier with the help of technology. For people who own a 3D printer, NASA also offers a host of 3D-printing-ready models of its most popular spacecraft, asteroids, craters, and so on. You can 3D print models of the legendary Hubble Space Telescope to the Curiosity rover. All-in-all 3D printing might make many more such things accessible in the future.
