The worldwide prevalence of obesity and other diet-related diseases has increased the demand for healthy food products. To address this problem, the reduction of the caloric content, mainly by decreasing fats and/or sugars, is challenging mainly for the essential effects of these compounds on the structural and sensory attributes.
Also, despite the push for healthy foods, consumers demand products with an appealing sensory profile. So, food scientists should respond to this demand by developing alternative strategies.
In this context, the modification of 3D food architecture deserves attention since it could enhance satiation and satiety providing a method to control energy intake and it could modulate nutrient digestion. Beyond contributing to these functionalities, innovative food structures impact on the release of taste molecules and on the mastication behaviour that plays an essential role for oral perception.
In this scenario, additive manufacturing technologies represents a fascinating opportunity to realize innovative food structures conferring sensorial perception never thought before.
Thus, we studied the qualitative and quantitative effects of the three-dimensional food structure of innovative cereal-based snacks at reduced sugar content on the mechanical and sensory properties, mastication behaviour and co-related potential effects on the daily diet.
Results showed that 3D food architecture affects how foods breakdowns in the mouth leading to different sensorial perception. For this, the design and manipulation of the whole food structure with the help of the 3D food printing technology allow to obtain desirable sensorial characteristics and functionalities as well as the mastication behaviour of food products, that can help in the development of human health.
A presentation by Rossella Caporizzi, PhD at the Emerging Technology and Food Formulation teams (ETFFlab) at the University of Foggia.
Rossella loves to understand what is still not known, and her main aim is to contribute in the development of foods with potential health benefits with the help of innovative technologies or through the best use of our food resources
About Rossella Caporizzi
Dr. Rossella Caporizzi is a researcher of the Emerging Technology and Food Formulation teams (ETFFlab) at the University of Foggia, focusing her research activities on new technological approach for the development of personalized foods. Also, her research interests are: 3D Food Printing, reuse of food waste and by-products, mechanical and microstructural properties of foods, innovative cereal-based food products. She is also visiting professor at the Department of Science, University of RomaTre. She is topic editor and reviewer editor for an international journal. Moreover she contributed as a speaker to some national and international conferences.
About The University of Foggia
The University of Foggia, located in Foggia, Italy, was founded in 1991 and was fully recognized in 1999. Although it has taken some time for the university to receive its entitlement and acknowledgement, through that timestamp it has branched off from five faculties to six: the Faculty of Economics, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, the Faculty of Medical and Surgical Sciences, the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Food and Environment, and the Faculty of the Humanities: Literature, Cultural Heritage, and Educational Sciences. It has also been named as the best university of southern Italy by the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, which has full ownership of the Italian employers’ federation.
Rossella Caporizzi is speaker at the 2022 edition of the 3D Food Printing Conference, part of the Agrifood Innovation Event.