Research project

Thanks to good living conditions, the population of elderly in Sweden is growing and the estimated life length is increasing. With that, problems connected to high age and disease prevalence will increase. Many elderly suffer from malnutrition which in turn leads to weight loss, frailty, and finally to nursing homes, hospitalization, disabilities or even death. About half of the elderly population is in the risk zone of malnutrition. An even more exposed group is those who have chewing and swallowing disorders (dysphagia), which is common among elderly but also in younger groups such as stroke and cancer patients.
We need to address this problem in a new way, and create a wide range of attractive and varied consistency adjusted foods. Also, we need to make it possible to customize meals according to individual needs. 3D printing is an innovative technology in the food sector with unique possibilities for automated production of visually appealing foods with tailored texture, as well as innovative food structures for increase palatability and variation. 3D printing is a very flexible production method which makes it suitable for product customization. An innovative concept is to place small, userfriendly 3D printers in commercial kitchens that supply care units with consistency adjusted foods to
prepared attractive, adapted and/or customized meals. Development of 3D printing for food applications will increase the degree of innovation in the Swedish food sector. Both foods designed for elderly and dysphagia patients and the concept of customized foods, as well as tailored technology and ingredients for food 3D printing, have high export potential as malnutrition in these groups is a global problem.

Members from Kristianstad University: Karin Wendin, Elisabet Rothenberg, Maria Biörklund Helgesson
Participating Partners: RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Kristianstad University, Lund University
Contributing partners: Cellink, Helsingborgs kommun, Halmstad kommun, Findus, Stora Sköndal, Fazer Food Service, Solina Group, Addema, Changemaker
Funding: Vinnova
Project time: 24 months