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Seaweeds Candy 3D Food Printing

1. Introduction

Adequate intake of fiber is associated with the reduction risk of cardiovascular disease,

coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, certain gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, and

metabolic dysfunctions, including prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. The range of suggested fiber

intake from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) is 19 grams to 38 grams/day. Nonetheless, many

Americans could not meet the recommendation (Quagliani & Felt-Gunderson, 2016).

3D food printing and seaweed can provide a solution to this issue in providing food with

high content of fiber. Seaweed is a reliable source of fiber; 8g serving seaweed can supply up to

12.5% of a person’s daily fiber needs. Comparison to other vegetables on a weight-for-weight

basis, the amount of fiber in seaweed is relatively high. In the digestive system, alginates from

brown seaweeds, has beneficial effect in increasing fecal bulk. This effect is correlated with the

water-holding and binding capacity of the polysaccharide. Therefore, colon transit times will be

decreased; it provides positive factor in preventing colon cancer. Moreover, the alginate

polysaccharide has an ability to bind metal ions which affects the absorption of heavy metals

through the system. Related to mineral content, seaweeds have high mineral content because of

their marine habitat and absorption of wide variety of minerals. Important minerals such as

calcium, sodium, potassium, iron, and iodine are found at relatively high levels in seaweeds even

though Na:K ratios are usually below 1:5. Two percent of dry weight of lipids are present in

seaweeds and majority of this lipid content is comprised of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)

such as Omega-3 and Omega-6. Both water-soluble vitamins such as A, B, and C and fat-soluble

vitamins such as E are found in seaweeds. Seaweeds also contain vitamin B12 that rarely found

in vegetables, providing alternative for the sources of vitamin B12 for vegetarians. Protein
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content of the seaweeds, like any other nutritional component of seaweeds, vary depend on the

season and the species. The protein content of Porphyra spp. (Nori) can be as high as 47% of the

dry weight. For most species, aspartic and glutamic acids constitute a large part of the amino acid

make-up of these proteins. Essential amino acids such as histidine, leucine, isoleucine and valine

are found in many seaweeds, such as Palmaria palmata and Ulva spp. (MacArtain, Gill, Brooks,

Campbell, & Rowland, 2007).

3D printing is a technology that can easily make a 3D object by layer-by-layer

deposition. It is also known as additive layer manufacturing, rapid prototyping or solid freeform

fabrication, 3D printing provides an alternative to create 3D construction with complex

geometries, elaborated textures, and personalized nutritional contents (Hao et al., 2010).

This paper aims to investigate the application of 3D printing technology for the

personalized food formula development, specifically as a source of dietary fiber for children,

teens, adult, and elderly.

2. Ingredients:

- Seaweeds (carrageenan)

  Rich in polysaccharides, minerals, proteins, and vitamins, a documented antioxidant

activity, and contains high dietary fiber content.

- Stevia sugar

Stevia sugar is calorie-free sweetener made from stevia plant; stevia sugar does not

increase blood glucose level so that it is safe for diabetes patient

- Almond floor

Almonds are low-glycemic index (GI) food, with high fiber, unsaturated fat, and low

carbohydrate content.
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- Vanilla extract

- Soymilk

- Salt

3. Processing

3.1 Ingredients Processing

Dried seaweeds are soaked in limewater (calcium hydroxide) for a day and water is

replaced three times. The function of limewater is to bleach and clean seaweeds. Then seaweeds

are crushed to create seaweeds paste. Soymilk and almond flour are boiled. Seaweeds paste,

stevia sugar, salt, and vanilla extract are added into the mixture of soymilk and almond flour,

stirred thoroughly until all of the ingredients become homogenous.

The reaction that possibly occur during processing is Maillard reaction between the

amino acids in protein (seaweeds) and reducing sugar. This reaction can affect the color of the

products. Besides that, the protein aggregation is another reaction that is likely to occur due to

the heat.

3.2 3D Food Printing

I choose to use extrusion-based printing. First, the samples are extruded onto the platform

using the nozzle with 2.0 mm diameter to ensure that all the formula can be successfully

extruded when printing process is carried out. Success printing is a condition when the printed

samples could maintain their shape and structure for at least 20 minutes. Filament diameter is

dependent on the printing speed. If filament diameter is smaller, the printing speed is larger. Bed

temperature is the final printing temperature which is related to the glass transition temperature

of certain food material, and the small fans near the nozzle aided in cooling the samples of
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extruded food material quickly (Yang, Zhang, Prakash, & Liu, 2018). Layer height or first layer

height, which means monolayer height, should be set to same value which is slightly lower than

nozzle diameter (Anitha, Arunachalam, & Radhakrishnan, 2001). In this experiment, the nozzle

moving speed was set to 25 mm/s, and the extrusion speed was set to 118.689 mm3/s (Yang et

al., 2018).

4. Analysis

4.1 3D structure analysis

In this experiment, the 3D printed shape is a cuboid. The printed products of cuboid are

measured for their length, width, and height by using a vernier caliper. The sample is printed in

triplicates and measured in triplicates (Yang et al., 2018).

4.2 Rheological properties measurements

Characterization of rheological properties of the candy is carried out using using a AG-

G2 Rheometer (AG-1000, Co. TA, USA) with a parallel plate (cone diameter 20 mm and gap 2

mm) at 25℃. Extrusion shear rate is 0.98s -1. RheoWin 4 Data Manager (Rheology Software,

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA) is used to record shear stress, shear rate, and apparent

viscosity. Characterization of dynamic viscoelastic properties is conducted using oscillatory

frequency sweep mode. Oscillation of the angle frequency is from 0.1 to 100 rad/s and all

measurements are conducted within the identified linear viscoelastic region and made at 0.2%

strain. The elastic modulus (G’) and loss modulus (G”) are recorded (Moreira, Chenlo, & Torres,

2013). Rheological measurement is evaluated in triplicate (Yang et al., 2018).

4.3 Microstructure Analysis

Scanning electron microscope (SEM) is conducted to examine microstructure of the

surface of the seaweeds candy.

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References
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Virtual and Physical Prototyping, 5(2), 57-64. doi:10.1080/17452751003753212
MacArtain, P., Gill, C. I., Brooks, M., Campbell, R., & Rowland, I. R. (2007). Nutritional value
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