3D printing of plant-based fat inks towards manufacturing complex cellular agriculture products with fatty structures

This study developed fully vegan, edible fat-based inks intended for extrusion 3D printing of structured foods and cellular agriculture constructs containing fatty domains. Emulsion-gel inks were formulated using vegetable oils (sunflower, rapeseed, olive) with soy protein isolate (emulsifier) and κ-carrageenan (thermoreversible gelation), and compared against oleogel variants incorporating carnauba wax as a vegan structurant. Across formulations, inks were tuned to print at low temperatures (~<40°C) and moderate pneumatic pressures (4–20 psi) while maintaining shape fidelity. Mechanical characterization showed compression moduli in the range of ~60–120 kPa for baseline formulations, comparable to adipose tissue and in the order of raw salmon fillet; omega-3-enriched variants increased modulus (reported ~110–180 kPa). Printability metrics (mesh printability factor ~1) and multilayer tower builds (up to 25 layers) demonstrated good geometric fidelity, with stability dependent on storage environment (PBS vs air) and formulation (oil vs wax-based). Biocompatibility and adhesion assays using embryonic sea bass cells supported feasibility for hybrid cell-compatible food constructs. Sensory-relevant texture profiling (double compression) highlighted manufacturing-method effects (molded vs printed hybrids) on hardness/cohesiveness/springiness/chewiness relative to raw salmon, and the work concludes with printed multi-material seafood-like prototypes (sashimi- and shrimp-like) combining a red κ-carrageenan “muscle” ink and the fat ink.