Forma Foods has developed a 3D printing tech to produce animal-free meat products. It’s a startup incubated at Tecnológico de Monterrey which replicates plant-based meat such as muscle tissue, fat proteins & other connective tissue parts. Besides transforming the food sector, Forma Foods contributes to efficient food consumption, health care & environmental protection.
It offers an alternate solution for traditional meat production while maintaining the taste & texture of real meat. Using this tech, Forma Foods can ease access to enriched protein in remote regions, while considering environmental issues linked with conventional livestock farming.
They curated a new model named “chaotic printing,” where microstructures are developed by emoting the structure of animal tissues to make their plant-based products resemble traditional meat including texture, flavor & overall look. They are designed based on famous Mexican meals like arrachera & carne al pastor with recipes like pea protein, oriental prebiotic fiber & coconut oil to replicate muscle, connective tissue & fat portions.
Grissel Trujillo, CSO at Forma Foods says, “These chaotic flows have nothing to do with disorder or turbulence, they produce microstructures in a fast and mathematically predictable way; they generate fine thin layers that mimic the architecture of animal tissues. Eating an arrachera taco isn’t the same as eating a sausage or ground beef taco. We must imagine future needs and develop new products that are necessary today & will be more in the years.”
The focus on lab-based meat shifted over plant-based choices because of the high price range of animal cell-based methods. With Tec de Monterrey’s assistance & expert research from MIT & Harvard, the firm has developed 3D-printed scalable & affordable vegetable products.
“We integrate technological elements previously used (for other purposes), using them in an innovative way that creates a drastically different and proudly Mexican technology. With a growing demand for food and limited resources, innovative solutions such as printing plant-based meat are essential for the future,” explains the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Mario Moises Alvarez.
Forma Foods is a Mexican tech innovation focused on solving global food requirements despite having limited supplies. The startup also targets vegan customers & people who are looking to eliminate their meat consumption due to their health, ethical, or environmental conditions.
Author: Nagarjun M
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