3D Printed Bacon Is Hitting European Supermarkets

Plant-based products are revolutionizing the food industry. Already, in many European countries especially, a wide range of these foods are now available in supermarkets and people see them as a healthy alternative to eating meat in large quantities. It is even possible to find plant-based tuna, salmon or pork, which are very similar in taste and texture to the animal models they are modeled on. This trend is also present in Spain. There, the companies Cocuus and Foodys are continuously promoting the consumption of meat alternatives and are pioneers in the Spanish market for plant-based products as an alternative to meat. Now they are attracting attention with 3D printed bacon.

In recent years, Foodys has launched products such as burgers and nuggets made from plants in an attempt to imitate the original food model. The basic idea is to create an alternative to meat in order to promote sustainability. At Foodys, all products are plant-based, but at Cocuus this does not apply to all products. For its part, the company works with 3D printing in four different areas, from 3D printing meat from plants, cells or the meat itself to what they call “softmimic”, i.e. purées that resemble real food. Thanks to the combination of these different areas, it was possible to produce 3D-printed bacon.

A photo to commemorate the start of the project between Foodys and Cocuus (photo credits: Foodys and Cocuus)

The two companies started this joint project a few months ago with the intention of building the world’s first large-scale plant-based 3D printed organic food facility. Companies such as REVO FOODS also produce 3D printed plant-based foods on a large scale, but do not have a production facility like Cocuus and Foodys. Thanks to this project, one thing has become clear: The production of 3D-printed bacon requires fewer resources and causes less pollution. “We are able to reproduce in five minutes the bacon that two pigs produce in a lifetime,” says Cocuus.