Army scientists have spent decades concocting meals that last without refrigeration and survive high-altitude airdrops. And now, the Army is eyeing a new form of cooking: 3-D printing! Yes, food that comes fresh out of a printer, for our troops.
Lauren Oleksyk, a food technologist leading the team at the Army’s Natick research center, lays out the vision.
Imagine soldiers who are strapped, head to toe, with sensors that measure if they’re high or low in potassium or cholesterol.
“We envision to have a 3-D printer that is interfaced with the soldier. And that sensor can deliver information to the computer software,” Oleksyk says. “And then they would be able to have either powdered or liquid matrices that are very nutrient dense, that they have on demand that they can take and eat immediately to fill that need.”
“Liquid matrices” that are nutrient “dense.” And you print them?!
