Texture Modification of 3D Printed Air-Fried Potato Snack by Varying Its Internal Structure with the Potential to Reduce Oil Content

An air-fried 3D printed snack was developed to potentially provide consumer an alternative choice of potato snack with reduced oil. One cylindrical shape was firstly 3D printed with variable internal structures, followed by air-frying post-printing. The unfried printed samples well matched the designed geometry but with a slight shrinkage after air-frying process. Hardness and fracturability of air-fried potato snack, significantly affected by infill pattern, also significantly decreased when infill level decreased. The 100% infill printed and cast samples were observed with a serious puffing phenomenon during air-frying process. Finally, one kind of a food structure comprised of different parts illustrating multiple textures was developed by varying infill structure. The results suggested that the textural properties of the air-fried 3D printed potato snack could be modified by altering its internal structure, possibly offering a new way of oil reduction for potato-based snacks by creating customized internal structure by applying 3D printing.