The Sugar Lab - 3D Printed Sweets.

In 2011, graduate students Kyle and Liz von Hasseln were using an old 3D printer to create architectural models in their home in Los Angeles.

The genesis for the Sugar Lab company was von Hasseln’s sister’s birthday party, and an absence of regular cooking tools. Kyle von Hasseln hacked an old 3D printer to print cupcake decorations, and he’s been on a mission to create unusual cakes and sweets ever since.

Soon von Hasselns realized the same 3D-printing technology could be applied to food.They eventually developed and patented a method for printing complex edible objects.

The Sugar Lab describes what it does as a “digital bakery,” and much of the tech involved is there to make the printers food-safe — not typically a huge consideration for most 3D printing applications.

The Sugar Lab claims its printers are able to 3D-print complex foods in full color, with the ability to scale the production for large batches of tasty treats. The pritners can print a number of ingredients, including dehydrated fruits, vegetables, spices and plant proteins. The result is that the company has what appears to be the only NSF-certified* commercial-scale 3D food printing solution.

The food- or chocolate- printers cost more than US$1000 today. One of the most popular applications of 3D food printing is mimicry of familiar foods. Often, business ventures that 3D print foods have focused on making vegan or lab-grown mimics of animal-based foods. Investors have put billions of dollars into start-ups in this space, and the price has dropped from a burger costing US$330000 in 2013 to about US$9.80 in 2022.

The great thing about 3D printing foods is that most possible foods in this space haven’t been made yet. There’s lots of room to play.

*Центр сертификации NSF (США, Канада, Великобритания, Австралия и пр.) некоммерческий орган, разрабатывает стандарты и сертифицирует пищевую продукцию и косметику.