Craving a pizza or burger? 3-D print it

WASHINGTON – The printer, a home staple for spewing out term papers, pictures and files, could soon find a place in the kitchen, changing the way time-starved Americans make their favorite meals.

The once-futuristic 3-D printer is close to becoming a reality in food preparation. So far, it has mostly focused on chocolate and sugar products, but developers are targeting culinary professionals and specialty retailers to broaden 3-D printers' reach into the food industry.

Although they won't replace your oven, microwave or grill anytime soon, growing momentum among researchers, companies and consumers indicates printer will change the way people eat, eventually through homemade pastas, pizzas, burgers and even chicken nuggets.

"Our big vision is that we actually do see that the 3-D food printer will become a common appliance in every kitchen, similar to how microwaves penetrated most kitchens today," said Lynette Kucsma, co-founder of the 3-D printing start-up Natural Machines in Barcelona.

"Essentially what we've done with 3-D food printing is we've taken a food manufacturing facility and we've shrunk it down to something that fits in a box on somebody's counter."

Kucsma and other researchers tout the 3-D printer as a way to create foods too complicated to be made by hand and nimble enough to churn out items customized to the exact specifications of the shopper.

It also could lure people interested in healthy eating by requiring fresh ingredients to be prepared before they are loaded into the printer.

Lester Wilson, a professor of food science and human nutrition at Iowa State University, called 3-D food printing an "interesting" technology. But Wilson, who teaches a class on food and the consumer, said the printer must overcome a number of hurdles — including affordability, speed and food safety concerns — before it has any chance of going mainstream.

"There are some opportunities there, but the technology isn't far enough along yet," Wilson said. "It's an exciting new idea. In 20 years, if they can solve some of these initial problems, we may well see it (with people saying): 'Hey, let's get one of those 3-D printers.' "

Attracting attention

The potential has attracted a number of companies hoping to capture a slice of the 3-D food market, despite the uncertainties.

3D Systems, a Rock Hill, S.C., company whose printers are used in everything from aerospace and health care to dentistry and the automotive industries, plans to introduce its first machine for food in 2016.

The ChefJet Pro printer will focus on desserts — geometric candies, cake toppers and other sweets that are ripe for creativity from forward-thinking chefs — before expanding into other areas.

"The fact that you see a lot of well-established companies moving into this space, even companies that have a tremendously long history like Hershey and Barilla ... I think is really telling that things are going to change pretty quickly in the next couple of years," said Kyle von Hasseln, creative director for culinary at 3D Systems. "I don't think we quite know how big it can become."

Food makers are already using 3-D printers to make changes and tweaks to popular products.

A contest sponsored by pasta-maker Barilla to develop a 3-D printed pasta attracted more than 530 product designers. One winner created a pasta bud that blooms into a rose when it is boiled.

Oreo has used a 3-D printer that can squeeze out the cream filling into customizable patterns, flavors or colors on already-baked cookies. And PepsiCo has used the device to develop a potato chip with deeper ridges and extra crunch.

Hershey goes 3-D

Hershey unveiled its aptly-named CocoJet printer this year at the CES technology conference in Las Vegas.

Jeff Mundt, senior manager of new technology at Hershey, said the printer was brought to the event at the last minute and placed in a corner booth of 3D Systems, which is jointly developing the printer with the chocolatier. There was nothing but the name CocoJet to draw consumers to the device.

"People would walk by and their jaw would drop," said Mundt, who noted the company was initially concerned whether people would embrace food made in a printer. " 'Is this printing chocolate? Wow. Coolest thing I've ever seen.' "

The 50-pound, copper-colored printer with a window in front heats up the chocolate displaced from a cartridge. The chocolate then gets squeezed into tiny rows, with the nozzle slowly going back and forth, creating within 45 minutes complex figures such as a 3-D caged Hershey Kiss (think a large version of the candy with a lattice pattern).

In five minutes or less, it can make a a candy bar with a person's face on it.

The companies plan to begin testing the printer with select retailers sometime next year, targeting specialty food stores and restaurants, locations specializing in parties or celebrations and Hershey's website. A consumer rollout is still a few years away.

"We're not just doing it because it's cool and just because it's something where we can go and show, 'Look how smart we are.' What we really want to do is commercialize this," Mundt said. "That is the plan and always has been."

Coming to Des Moines

David Baruthio, chef and co-owner of Baru 66 in Des Moines, will be incorporating a 3-D food printer into his restaurant's French cuisine.

Baruthio said the $1,200 printer will be used for adding small, decorative touches to plates — such as making creative designs with chocolate or carving vegetables into unusual patterns — rather than becoming a device he depends on regularly.

"I'm excited because it's the newish thing that just got out in the food world. It's an unusual tool that no restaurant in the state of Iowa really has," Baruthio said. "But I don't think this will be something that is sustainable for everyday life in the kitchen. I can see it being a tool that is quite complex to use in the middle of a busy shift."

The printer is from Natural Machines, a company founded 2¹/₂ years ago to make specialty cakes before shifting to focus on 3-D food printing. It comes with five stainless steel food capsules that can be loaded with fresh ingredients, such as dough in one, cheese in another and sauce in a third for a pizza.

The printer does require some limits on consistency of the food: The pizza sauce can't be too watery or it will drip through the system, or so chunky that it clogs the nozzle.

The device only prints the food and does not actually cook it, though a model in development would do both.

5-minute pizzas

Kucsma said a 3-D printer can make a cracker in less than 20 seconds, pizzas in about 5 minutes and chocolate sculptures in a half hour.

It will begin selling this year for about $1,300 to professional users — including cafes, restaurants and catering companies. The company also is working on a 3-D printer directed at the consumer.

At this stage, the 3-D food printer is often compared to the microwave back in the 1970s.

At first, people were skeptical about how the device would work and whether it would barrage them with radiation. Today, more than 90 percent of U.S. households own a microwave oven.

"To be honest with you, when I first heard of 3-D food printing before I joined Natural Machines, my initial reactions weren't too positive," Kucsma said. "The first thought that popped into my mind was processed food."

Now, she's using it to win over her fussy 6-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter.

The 3-D printer allowed her to configure spinach quiche in the shape of a dinosaur, and the kids cleaned their plates. At another meal, her son turned up his nose at beet root, until it was printed in the shape of a butterfly.

"Chefs know that food presentation is important; we eat with our eyes as much as our mouths," Kucsma said. "Children that are fussy eaters are more likely to try different foods if it's in a fun shape.

"My dinosaurs became extinct for a very good reason!"

Contact Christopher Doering at cdoering@gannett.com or reach him at Twitter: @cdoering