Consumer Perception and Attitudes About New Product Designs by 3D Food Printing: A Case of Study

Abstract

Additive manufacturing currently allows the development of products with food materials, among which chocolate is one of the most popular. This means that the gastronomic sector can incorporate this technology in the creation of products that offer personalisation for consumers. Likewise, 3D printing can be used to design new geometries with greater freedom of form. To this purpose, the speciality of industrial design is one of the areas of engineering that can provide significant value in the creation of new products destined for this sector. In this work, two design proposals were developed using industrial design methodologies and focused on the 3D printing of chocolate. In addition, the products generated were validated through their manufacture and presentation to consumers by a survey. Attitudes towards 3D printed food have also been evaluated. The results are favourable in terms of the inclusion of this engineering speciality in the gastronomic sector thanks to additive manufacturing. Furthermore, the results show that consumers’ impressions vary with respect to shape, expected taste, age and gender. On the other hand, there are significant differences in the neophobia of 3D printed food.