食品科學革新趨勢:培養肉、蟲肉、3D食物列印的未來 | 環境資訊中心
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食品科學革新趨勢:培養肉、蟲肉、3D食物列印的未來

2021年01月13日
環境資訊中心外電;姜唯 翻譯;林大利 審校;稿源:ENS

現在,3D列印和人造肉等科技讓我們能以全新的方式創造食物,為全世界帶來一系列新的可能。

學者透過食品生物聚合物、食品奈米技術 研發出未來食物


德國食品新創公司biozoon製作的3D列印食物。照片來源:biozoon

麻省大學阿默斯特分校食品科學教授麥克萊門斯(David Julian McClements)說:「食品科學領域正在發生許多令人振奮的改變。我們的科學技術以空前的飛速發展,改變著食品的生產和消費方式。」

麥克萊門斯的最新著作《未來食物:現代科學如何改變我們的飲食方式(Future Foods: How Modern Science is Transforming the Way We Eat,暫譯)》探討今日食品與科學的交集,不僅適合學生,也值得一般大眾一讀。該書闡述技術和設計原理的使用,如何創造出比今日食物更永續、健康和​​美味的未來食物。

如何製作功能性食品,加強保健食品或益生菌,以預防營養不良和抵抗慢性疾病,是這本書的重點。

麥克萊門特強調,對許多人來說,食用新鮮食物不是個可行的選項,尤其是在太空中。因此他長期與美國太空總署(NASA)合作,為探索整個太陽系的任務開發功能性食品。

麥克萊門特認為,「我們需要的是價格合理,且方便、健康、美味的加工食品。」他專門研究食品生物聚合物、膠體以及食品奈米技術。


食品科學教授麥克萊門斯。照片來源:麻省大學阿默斯特分校影片截圖

多年來一直是素食主義者的麥克萊門特也重視永續飲食,並為全世界的糧食需求、消費和生產系統產出許多科學知識。

他認為永續食品革命已經進入美國雜貨店,像是2016年7月上市的植物肉「Impossible Meat」。

「培養肉(clean meat)」,也就是用現代生物醫學技術在發酵桶或試管中培養的動物細胞產生的肉,和「蟲肉(bug meat)」——用昆蟲做的牛肉替代品,看起來距離進入市場都不遠了。麥克萊門特說:「你可以吃肉而不造成任何牲畜死亡。」

麥克萊門特認為,現在已經有桌上型的3D食品印表機,不久的將來每個人都能在家中放一台,只要按一下3D印表機上的按鈕,就能把營養粉變成餐桌上的美味健康食品。

韓國學者研發食品3D列印 助減少食物浪費和運輸相關碳足跡

韓國梨花女子大學副教授李金珠(Jin-Kyu Rhee,暫譯)說:「我們開發出一個3D列印平台,可以產生食物的微觀結構,設定食物的材質和身體吸收量。」

「我們認為,有一天人們家裡會有各種粉末狀的『墨水匣』,裝在3D印表機上,便能根據需要或喜好進行烹飪。」


漢堡中的肉在實驗室中製作完成。照片來源:麻省大學阿默斯特分校影片截圖

3D列印食品的過程與3D列印其他材料的過程差異不大,原材料都被層層堆疊,以形成最終產品。

在梨花女子大學2018年的研究中,研究人員使用3D印表機列印出的食品,具有和一般食品類似的物理特性和質感。

當人們習慣了3D列印食品,不管是在家中或是商業規模,可以幫助減少全球食物浪費和運輸相關的碳足跡。3D列印粉為日益增加的全球人口提供了一種可能的解決方案。

李金珠說:「我們的技術現在還處於早期階段,但是我相信我們的研究將把3D食品印刷的水準帶到一個新高度。我們正在繼續優化食品3D列印技術,好發展出可客製化的食品材料和產品,這些材料和產品在保存時間跟人體吸收方面表現都更優異。」

Reinventing the Future of Food
AMHERST, Massachusetts, January 7, 2021 (ENS)

Technologies like 3-D printing and lab-based meat now enable us to create food in new ways that have left the whole world with an array of new possibilities.

“There are so many exciting things going on in the food science area,” says David Julian McClements, professor of food science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “We’re in the midst of an unprecedented era of rapid scientific and technological advances that are transforming the way our foods are produced and consumed.”

McClements’ most recent book, “Future Foods: How Modern Science is Transforming the Way We Eat,” investigates the intersection of food and science today, not just for students but also for the general public. The book explores the use of technology and design principles to create foods of the future that are more sustainable, healthier, and tastier than foods are today.

How to create functional foods, fortified with nutraceuticals or probiotics that help prevent malnutrition and fight chronic diseases, is a main focus of McClements’ book.

McClements stresses that consuming more fresh food is not a viable option for many people, especially not in space. So, he has been working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, to create space-friendly functional foods for long expeditions to other parts of the solar system.

“What we really need are processed foods that are affordable and convenient but also healthy and tasty,” writes McClements. who specializes in food biopolymers and colloids as well as food nanotechnology.

A vegetarian for years, McClements has highlighted the importance of more sustainable edibles, contributing factual evidence about the world’s food needs, consumption, and production.

He recognizes that the sustainable food revolution has already entered U.S. grocery stores with products such as plant-based Impossible Meat, which went on sale in July 2016.

“Clean meat,” meat created from cells of animals that have been grown in fermentation vats or test tubes with modern biomedical technology, and “bug meat,” meat from insects used as a substitute to cattle meat, do not seem too far away from greater commercial use.

“You actually get meat,” McClements says, “without any animal being killed.”

McClements suggests that since countertop 3-D food printers are already available, there will be a day that everybody could have one at home.

Just by pushing a button on the 3-D printer, powdered nutrition can be turned into tasty and healthy food for everyone in a family.

“We built a platform that uses 3-D printing to create food microstructures that allow food texture and body absorption to be customized on a personal level,” said Jin-Kyu Rhee, associate professor at Ewha Womans University in South Korea.

“We think that one day, people could have cartridges that contain powdered versions of various ingredients that would be put together using 3-D printing and cooked according to the user’s needs or preferences,” he said.

The process of 3-D printing food does not vary much from the process of 3-D printing other materials. In both settings, raw materials are built up in thin layers to create the final product.

For a 2018 study at Ewha Womans University, researchers used a 3-D printer to replicate food with similar physical and textural properties as those in everyday food samples.

If people get used to 3-D printing food, either at home or on a commercial scale, it could help reduce global food waste and the carbon footprint associated with ingredient transportation. And 3-D printing meals offers a possible solution to a growing world population.

“We are only in early stages, but we believe our research will move 3-D food printing to the next level,” said Rhee. “We are continuing to optimize our 3-D print technology to create customized food materials and products that exhibit longer storage times and enhanced functionality in terms of body absorption.”

※ 全文及圖片詳見:ENS

作者

姜唯

如果有一件事是重要的,如果能為孩子實現一個願望,那就是人類與大自然和諧共存。

林大利

農業部生物多樣性研究所副研究員,小鳥和棲地是主要的研究對象。是龜毛的讀者,認為龜毛是探索世界的美德。