Journal of Food Engineering 220 (2018) 101e108

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Journal of Food Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Investigation on fish surimi gel as promising food material for 3D

printing
Lin Wang a, Min Zhang a, b, *, Bhesh Bhandari c, Chaohui Yang d
a
State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, 214122, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
b
Jiangnan University(Yangzhou) Food Biotechnology Institute, Yangzhou, 225002, China
c
School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
d
Yangzhou Yechun Food Production & Distribution Co., Yangzhou, 225200, Jiangsu, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presents the development of a new 3D printing food constructs based on fish surimi gel
Received 29 September 2016 system. This study investigated the influence of NaCl addition on rheological property, gel strength,
Received in revised form water holding capacity (WHC), water distribution and microstructure of surimi gel to be used as a
22 February 2017
material for 3D printing. The obtained results from rheological studies showed that the surimi gels made
Accepted 27 February 2017
Available online 27 March 2017
with 1.5 g NaCl/100 g surimi mixture can be used for 3D printing. NaCl addition is helpful for the slurry to
flow out from the nozzle in time and then get viscous post-deposition for holding its shape. Moreover,
the effects of the printing parameters on the geometrical accuracy and dimension of the printed surimi
Keywords:
3D gel-printing
gel were also studied. In this particular printing system, the 2.0 mm nozzle diameter, 5.0 mm nozzle
Surimi gelation height, 28 mm/s nozzle moving speed and 0.003 cm3/s extrusion rate were the optimal parameters to
Additive manufacturing print 3D samples with fine resolution, better matching with the target geometry, fewer point defects and
Rheological properties no compressed deformation. The overall results suggested that the 3D printing based on surimi gel
Printing parameters system is a promising method for producing complexed-shape food patterns.
© 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction processing. It helps us to realize and produce new foods with

Additive manufacturing (AM), commonly referred to as 3D
printing, has received a large amount of attention from industry,
academia and the public due to its numerous advantages. It offers
shorter production runs compared with traditional manufacturing
methods. In addition, it can generate various complex shapes by
using limited mass of materials with an enhancement of mechan-
ical properties (Godoi et al., 2016). 3D printing, a process that
emerged as a distinct AM technique in recent years, involves the
extrusion of a melted filament or paste through a fine nozzle while
the nozzle’s position is computer-controlled in accordance with a
shape design model. This allows the manufacturing of complex
objects, practically unhindered by design complexity, thus
providing substantial liberty in new and untested geometric de-
signs (Ivanova et al., 2013; Kalsoom et al., 2016).
For food sector, 3D printing provides a new frontier in food
* Corresponding author. School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan Uni-
versity, 214122, Wuxi, China.
E-mail address: min@jiangnan.edu.cn (M. Zhang).
complicated shapes using particular material formulation mixtures.
The purpose of applying AM technology to printing food materials
is to simplify the production process and combine the design of a
food with new textures and potentially enhance its nutritional
value (Pallottino et al., 2016). In recent years, some researchers
have been reported to adapt the AM technology to the design of
various food constructs like chocolate or meat products (Hao et al.,
2010; Lipton et al., 2010). Lipton et al. (2010) used transglutaminase
and bacon fat as additives to make printable scallop and turkey
meat-puree. These final meat products well kept their shape after
cooking. Sun et al. (2015) reported the possibility of printing
cookies from a mixture of sugars, starch and mashed potato
without the need of further post-processing (cooking). Some
groups have also investigated the effects of printing parameters on
the geometrical accuracy and dimension of food pattern. Hao et al.
(2010) demonstrated a linear relationship between the extrusion
rate used in the ChocALM software and the bead diameters
obtained.
The properties and composition of food materials have been
considered to be the most important factors in 3D printing process.
These materials should be homogenous and have appropriate flow

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2017.02.029
0260-8774/© 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
102 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 220 (2018) 101e108
properties for extrusion as well as can support its structure during
and after printing process (Godoi et al., 2016). In a multicomponent
system, the change of proteins, carbohydrates, fat/oil and water will
affect the melting behavior and plasticization of the food-materials
during 3D printing processes. The plasticization lowers the glass
transition temperature of food polymers, such as starch, proteins
and carbohydrates (Bhandari and Roos, 2003) making them a
viscous printable material.
Surimi is a typical intermediate fish product. Gelation of surimi
is induced by the denaturation of protein and the subsequent ag-
gregation of the unfolding protein (Cando et al., 2015; Jin et al.,
2011). New textures can be created via surimi gelation mecha-
nism with gelatin, alginate and other polysaccharides governed by
both partical based-gelation and hydrogel-forming mechanisms
(Tahergorabi and Jaczynski, 2012). Sodium chloride is commonly
used to solubilize the myofibrillar proteins and to induce the pro-
tein unfolding. The final gels exhibited different rheological prop-
erties as the different amount of NaCl added (Cando et al., 2015).
The surimi is a viscous food gel system and that can be a
promising food material for developing various 3D constructs. The
main aim of this work is exploring the opportunity of 3D printing of
a surimi mixture. In this work, the effects of nozzle diameter size
(0.8, 1.5, 2.0 mm), nozzle height (5, 10, 15, 20 mm), nozzle moving
speed (20, 24, 28, 32 mm/s), extrusion rate (0.002, 0.003, 0.004,
0.005 cm3/s) and material properties of surimi slurry induced by
different concentrations of NaCl (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 g/100 g) on the
extrusion behavior and final qualities of the 3D constructs were
investigated.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Surimi sample preparation
Fresh silver carp fillet was purchased at a local market in Wuxi
city, China. The fish fillet was minced using a mechanical mincer
(Model UM 5, Stephan Machinery Co., Hameln, Germany) with an
orifice diameter of 4 mm. The minced fish was then washed with
cold water (4
C) using a mince/water ratio of 1:3 (v/w). Washing
was performed twice, and the washed mince was centrifuged at
700 g for 15 min at 4
C. Surimi moisture and pH were 82% and 6.8,
respectively. Surimi mince was mixed with NaCl at different levels
(0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0% w/w) in a mixer HSN-29 (Wuzhe Food Machine
Co., Ltd, Wuzhe Town, Guangdong, China). The temperature of the
mixture was kept below 5
C during mixing.
2.2. Testing of material properties
2.2.1. Rheological characterization
The rheological properties of the mixed surimi slurry at different
NaCl levels were characterized using a AR-G2 Rheometer (AR-1000,
Co. TA, USA) with a parallel plate (diameter ¼ 20 mm), at 25
C. The
gap between two plates was set to 2.0 mm. For determination of
steady shear viscositie, shear rate was ramped from 0.1 to 100 s1.
Shear stress, shear rate, and steady shear (apparent) viscosity (h)
were recorded by a RheoWin 4 Data Manager (Rheology Software,
Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA).
Dynamic viscoelastic properties were characterized using small-
amplitude oscillatory frequency sweep mode. The frequency was
oscillated from 0.1 to 100 rad/s, and all measurements were per-
formed within the identified linear viscoelastic region and made at
0.4% strain. The elastic modulus (G0 ), loss modulus (G00 ), and loss
tangent (tan d) were recorded. All tests were repeated three times.
2.2.2. Gel strength
The gel strength of the surimi gels was measured using a
cylinder measuring probe (P/0.5) attached to a TA. TX2 texture
analyzer (TA-XT plus, Stable Micro Systems, Ltd., Surrey, UK) at a
constant probe speed of 1.0 mm/min at room temperature
(25 ± 1
C). The gel strength is defined as the initial force required
to disrupt the gels. Experiments were conducted in triplicate for
each type of sample.
2.2.3. Water holding capacity (WHC)
WHC values of the surimi gels were determined according to the
method of Zhang et al. (2015) with slight modifications. Samples
(3 g) were centrifuged at 8,000 g for 30 min at 4
C and the WHC (%)
was expressed as the final weight of the centrifugate as a per-
centage of the weight before centrifugation.
2.2.4. Microstructure
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was performed to examine
the structural characteristics of surimi gels (Quanta-200, FEI Ltd.,
Netherlands) according to the method described by Liu et al. (2008)
with slight modifications. Gel samples (3  3  3 mm3) were fixed
in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) containing 2.5% glutaraldehyde
for 24 h at 4
C, and then post-fixed in the buffer containing 1%
osmium tetraoxide for 5 h at 4
C. Samples were washed 3 times
with 0.1 M phosphate buffer, dehydrated in graded ethanol series of
50, 70, 80, 90and 100% (v/v), and then vacuum-freeze-dried.
2.2.5. Low frequency-NMR relaxation measurements
The 1H NMR measurements were carried out using a NMR
spectrometer (PQ001, Niumag Electric Corporation, Shanghai,
China) at 100 KHz, connected with an external circulating cryostat
bath to control the sample temperature in the magnet chamber.
Surimi sample was tightly packed up to 6 cm into a NMR sample
tube with diameter of 10 mm, and put into the chamber. Transverse
(T2) relaxation was measured using the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill
pulse sequence (CPMG) with 4 scans, 3000 echoes, 13.8 s between
scans, and 200 ms between pulses of 90
and 180
. The data were
analyzed by applying multi-exponential fitting of T2 relaxation data
with the MultiExp Inv Analysis 4.09 (Niumag Electric Corporation,
Shanghai, China).
2.3. Printing process
The 3D printing system composed of the following three major
parts: (i) feed hopper with auger mixer and conveyor, (ii) an
extrusion system, (iii) and a X-Y-Z positioning system using stepper
motors. The nozzle height (5, 10, 15, 20 mm) from the printing bed
was achieved by adjusting the whole feeding device. The pressure
exerted on the surimi was applied via the extruder conveying
screw. The surimi samples were extruded onto a polished trans-
parent plastic polymer plate using nozzles of circular shape with
diameters of 0.8, 1.5 and 2.0 mm. The printing process was con-
ductued at rome temperature (25
C). The motion and positioning
control were provided by a computer with a specifically designed
Java program and micro controller.
To assess the effects on the extrudate geometry, line tests were
used. Lines of surimi gel were extruded at varying extrusion rates,
for different movement rates and the diameter of these lines was
then measured (Fig. 9). The line test samples were then cut to a
known length and weighed.
2.4. Statistical analysis
Analysis of variance was performed and mean comparisons
were run by Duncan’s multiple-range test using the SAS system for
Windows 9.0 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Significant differences
(p < 0.05) between mean values of samples were determined.
 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 220 (2018) 101e108
3. Results and discussion
3.1. The rheological behavior of the surimi gel
The apparent viscosity curve of the surimi slurry is shown in
Fig. 1A. The viscosity decreased significantly with the increased
shear rate. This indicated that the surimi gels are pseudoplastic
fluids and shear-thinning. Furthermore, increased NaCl concen-
tration led to a general decrease in viscosity, which will be helpful
for the slurry to flow out from the nozzle and then get viscous post-
deposition for holding its shape. In light of surimi viscoelastic
properties, the storage modulus (G0 ) was higher than the loss
modulus (G00 ) in the linear viscoelastic region (Fig. 1B and C), sug-
gesting its potential to form elastic gel or gel-like structure. The G0
and G00 both progressively increased as a function of increasing
oscillatory frequency, leading to the increased internal friction of
the material, as the losses (tand) are defined by G’/G’’. Besides, at
any oscillatory frequency, G0 and G00 continuously and significantly
decreased with increasing NaCl concentration from 0 to 1.5 g/100 g.
This decrease might have been due to the denaturation of the
myosin tail (light meromyosin), which induced the redistribution of
inter- and intra-molecular forces. In this way, the elastic compo-
nent of the pre-gel structure was weakened and the fluidity of
surimi increased (Tahergorabi and Jaczynski, 2012). An ideal surimi
slurry should be able to keep the shape of extrudate as well as be
mixable and printable below the maximum extrusion pressure of
the printer and capable of fusing with earlier printed layers. The
decreased G0 and G00 of salted surimi slurry will be helpful for the
slurry to flow out from the nozzle.
3.2. Gel strength and WHC
Gel strength is one of the most important functional properties
of surimi gels (Lin et al., 2015). Results from Fig. 2A shows that
increasing addition of NaCl enhanced the gel strength. At the
highest concentration of NaCl (1.5 g/100 g), the gel strength
reached to 7.20 N, representing an increase of about 2.0 times
compared with that of control. This is mainly due to the swelling of
A B
C D
Fig. 1. Rheological behavior (A. Apparent viscosity, B. G0 , C. G00 and D. tand) of the surimi gel at three NaCl level (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5% (w/w)).
103
myofibrillar protein and thus the increased interaction between
protein molecules as affected by NaCl addition (Tahergorabi and
Jaczynski, 2012). This enhanced gel strength could successfully
support its own weight during 3D printing and form the strong gel
patterned into three-dimensional structures.
The water holding capacity (WHC) in surimi gels depends pri-
marily on the kind and number of protein-water interaction sites in
the gels. As shown in Fig. 2B, the WHC of surimi gels significantly
increased with the increased NaCl addition, indicating an enhanced
capacity of the gel network to hold water. This is consistent with
the reports that chloride ions bind to myofibrillar proteins and raise
the electrostatic repulsion between filaments, thus increasing the
protein’s affinity for water (Qin et al., 2015). This could result in a
better gel network formation, causing a higher elasticity with
strong water-holding capacity in the gel matrix. Meanwhile, WHC
could reflect the coarseness of surimi gel structure, as discussed
below.
3.3. LF-NMR spin-spin relaxation times (T2) of surimi gels
NMR analysis showed the distributions of different types of
water in surimi gel, which is related to its microstructure and
physiochemical properties (Ahmad et al., 2007). It can be observed
from Fig. 4 that there were four peaks in each sample, indicating
that the surimi proteins restricted the water mobility with different
magnitudes. Four relaxation populations of surimi gels were
centered at approximately 0e1 ms (T2b), 7e20 ms (T21), 60e200 ms
(T22), and 600e1000 ms (T23). Sanchez-Alonso et al. (2014) also
reported that a typical NMR T2 signal for hake fish muscle proteins
exhibited four components, which were assigned to the bound,
immobilized, partially immobilized, and free water, respectively.
As illustrated in Fig. 3, the water population that was tightly
bound to macromolecules (T2b and T21) was not observed to have
significant differences in the four treatments. However, the T22
began to increase markedly with the increased NaCl addition,
indicating an alteration of water-protein interaction. Besides, the
relaxation components T23 disappeared with the further addition of
NaCl (above 0.5 g/100 g), which was believed to be associated with
104 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 220 (2018) 101e108

Fig. 2. Gel strength (A) and water holding capacity (B) of 3D printed surimi gels at three levels (0,0.5,1.0,1.5 g/100 g) of added NaCl.

the profusely swelling of myofibrillar proteins resulted in certain
level of the free water shifting to immobile water, and reduced the
abundance of water in surimi gels (Wang et al., 2016). The moisture
status of the gel is closely related to its texture. So the corre-
sponding gel strength was well improved.
3.4. Microstructure of surimi gels
The three-dimensional network structure is an important
determinant of the functional properties of surimi gel, such as
WHC, strength, and rheology (Rawdkuen et al., 2009). Fig. 4 shows
the microstructures of surimi gels at different NaCl levels, signifi-
cant differences in texture was observed between control gels and
the composite gels. The control surimi gels appeared uneven
shapes exhibiting some spread in pore size and protein aggregates
(Fig. 4A). Partially compact structure was also observed but the
entire product did not exhibit an obvious three-dimensional gel
network. With NaCl addition, the micrographs of surimi gels
revealed a more aggregated structure compared with control gels
that exhibited a more regularly ordered structure, indicating that
NaCl addition caused cross-links of myofibrillar protein via bonding
free amino acids to proteins, reducing the empty spaces and
changing the aggregate gel structure into a fine-stranded gel
network to some extent. Nevertheless, at high NaCl concentrations
(above 1.0 g/100 g), there was no significant change observed,
suggesting that the cross-link of surimi protein with 1.0 g/100 g of
the NaCl reached a saturation level. The improved gel structure was
well consistent with the gel strength and WHC observations
 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 220 (2018) 101e108 105

slurry (Liu et al., 2008), which will be beneficial to printing process.

As shown in Fig. 5A, the control surimi gels with high viscosity and
low tand could not be extruded smoothly. A small tand indicates
that the slurry revealed more solid-like behavior and poor fluidity
(Chaisawang and Suphantharika, 2006), resulted in large amounts
of broken deposited lines. With the increasing addition of NaCl, the
printed samples showed a more uniform surimi slurry which was
extruded with less broken deposited lines (Fig. 5B and C). A well-
defined network, sufficiently high gel strength and proper viscos-
ity of materials are fundamental to support the weight of after-
wards deposited layers in a 3D shape (Godoi et al., 2016). With
further NaCl addition to 1.5 g/100 g, the printed constructs
exhibited the smoothest surface texture, better matching with the
target geometry, fewer point defects and no compressed defor-
mation (Fig. 5D). Based on these observations, the optimal con-
centration was determined to be 1.5 g/100 g.

3.5.2. Optimisation of nozzle height

Nozzle height, the distance between the nozzle tip of the
extruder and the deposited top layer (substrate), greatly influenced
Fig. 3. NMR signal (T2) for 3D printed surimi gels by NaCl addition. the geometry shape of the extrudates (Attalla et al., 2016). A critical

A B

C D

Fig. 4. Scanning electron microscope micrographs (magnification1: 200) of 3D printed surimi gels manufactured by NaCl addition. (A ¼ Control, B ¼ 0.5 g/100 g, C ¼ 1.0 g/100 g,
D ¼ 1.5 g/100 g).

previously described. The microstructure of surimi gels plays an nozzle height (hc) can be estimated using the following equation
important role in the 3D printing process, because a well-defined (Wang and Shaw, 2005):
network has excellent shape retention property, which is benefi-
cial to stabilizing the shape of surimi gels after printing. hc ¼ Vd =vn Dn (1)

Vd is the volume of the slurry extruded rate (cm3/s), vn the nozzle

3.5. Printing process
3.5.1. Optimisation of NaCl addition
It has been reported that the decreases in inter-protein hydro-
phobic facilitated the protein-protein interaction, resulting in the
decreased viscosity, elastic modulus and increased tan d of surimi
moving speed (mm/s), and Dn the nozzle diameter (mm). It was
found that when the nozzle height was higher than hc, the extruded
lines were much thicker than intended (Fig. 6A), resulting in the
geometrically inaccurate printed patterns. In contrast, when the
nozzle height was less than hc, parts of the slurry delayed the
deposition on build surface before the nozzle turned a corner,
106 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 220 (2018) 101e108

A B

C D

Fig. 5. Different geometrical shapes of 3D printed surimi gel samples by the addition of three different levels of NaCl (A ¼ Control, B ¼ 0.5 g/100 g, C ¼ 1.0 g/100 g, D ¼ 1.5 g/100 g).
Extrusion parameters are nozzle diameter 2.0 mm, nozzle height 5.0 mm, nozzle moving speed 28 mm/s and extrusion rate 0.003 cm3/s.

A B C D

Fig. 6. Geometry shape of 3D printed surimi gel (NaCl content 1.5 g/100 g) samples using four different nozzle heights (A ¼ 20, B ¼ 15, C ¼ 10 and D ¼ 5 mm). Other extrusion
parameters are nozzle diameter 2.0 mm, nozzle moving speed 28 mm/s and extrusion rate 0.003 cm3/s.

leading to massively inaccurate sections (Hao et al., 2010). Ac-
cording to Equation (1), the critical nozzle height would be:
0:003
hc ¼ ¼ 5:357mm
28  2:0
From this result, it is clear that the ideal build height for this
surimi mixture was 5.0 mm. During the printing process it was
observed that when the nozzle hight was 5 mm, the printed objects
achived desired uniform shape with highest fieldity (Fig. 6D).
3.5.3. Optimisation of nozzle diameter size
The nozzle size mainly affected printing precision and surface
roughness of the products (Vogeler et al., 2013). Obviously, the
dimensional resolution and surface quality of the final sample were
enhanced with the decreasing size of nozzle. But the pressure of
extrusion increased with the reduced size of nozzle. Fig. 7 showed
the effects of the nozzle diameters on the geometric quality of
extrudates. It was apparent that the optimal diameter of nozzle was
2.0 mm. By using diameters of 0.8 and 1.5 mm (7A and B), relatively
poor models occurred for the extruded surimi was inconsistent in
both diameter and length. While when the nozzle diameter was
2.0 mm (Fig. 7C), both of the dimensional resolution and surface
quality of the final printed sample were the best compared to other
conditions.
3.5.4. Optimisation of the nozzle moving speed
We also investigated the effect of nozzle moving speed on the
printing process in order to establish dynamic working range of a
3D printer, which was expected to print a pattern that was com-
parable to that of the original design. The moving speed available
for printing was limited by the printer motors (from 1 to 40 mm/s).
Changing the moving speed would affect its critical nozzle height
when all other parameters were kept constant. If the moving speed
was much higher, the nozzle height calculated would be closer to
its actual nozzle height (5.0 mm) used in the experiment. This
means that no obvious forced flow of the slurry was present with
the nozzle moving speed. Too high speed (32 mm/s) can cause
dragging of the extruded filaments of products causing breaking of
the extruded slurry filaments (Fig. 8D). While at very low moving
speeds, the flow instabilities of slurry occurred resulting in the
formation of coils as shown in Fig. 8A, suggesting that the nozzle
moving speed (28 mm/s) was found to be suitable as they produced
a higher-resolution and accuracy matching with models and fewer
borken lines (Fig. 8C).
3.5.5. Optimisation of the extrusion rate
As shown in Fig. 9B, there is a liner relationship between the
extrusion rate and the diameters of surimi slurry that are collected
from the line tests. When the extrusion rate was high (Vd ¼ 0.004
and 0.005 cm3/s), the diameter was larger than the critical nozzle
size (Fig. 9A), indicating that the slurry had spread along the sub-
strate surface before it was set. This is because the higher the
extrusion rate is, the greater volume of surimi slurry is extruded to
give a larger diameter. When the extrusion rate was very low
 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 220 (2018) 101e108 107

A B C

Fig. 7. Geometry shape of printed surimi gel samples (NaCl content 1.5 g/100 g) with different nozzle diameter size (A ¼ 0.8, B ¼ 1.5, C ¼ 2.0 mm). Other extrusion parameters are
nozzle height 5.0 mm, nozzle moving speed 28 mm/s and extrusion rate 0.003 cm3/s. NaCl content 1.5 g/100 g.

A B C D

Fig. 8. Geometry shape of printed surimi gel samples (NaCl content 1.5 g/100 g) with different nozzle moving speed (A ¼ 20, B ¼ 24, C ¼ 28, D ¼ 32 mm/s). Other extrusion
parameters are nozzle diameter 2.0 mm, nozzle height 5.0 mm and extrusion rate 0.003 cm3/s. NaCl content 1.5 g/100 g.

A B

Fig. 9. Relationship between extrusion rate and resulting diameter of surimi slurry (NaCl content 1.5 g/100 g). A: Line test of extruded surimi gel samples at varying extrusion rates;
B: Relationship between extrusion rate and resulting diameter of surimi slurry. Other extrusion parameters are nozzle diameter 2.0 mm, nozzle height 5.0 mm and nozzle moving
speed 28 mm/s. NaCl content 1.5 g/100 g.

(Vd ¼ 0.002 cm3/s), the extrusion pressure decreased, leading to an
inconsistent surimi slurry. From this relationship, the extrusion rate
can be determined to be 0.0028 cm3/s in order to give a 2.0 mm
diameter. As the extrusion rates in the software can only be input as
integer values, thereby the optimal extrusion rate was determined
0.003 cm3/s.
speed and the extrusion rate are also critical parameters influ-
encing the geometry accuracy of the 3D surimi printing. The
2.0 mm nozzle diameter and 5.0 mm nozzle height were the
optimal parameters to provide good bonding between layers to
maintain proper geometry.

4. Conclusions

This paper presented a study on the importance of functional Acknowledgments

properties of surimi gel for an additive layer manufacturing pro-
cess. Results showed that the rheological behavior of surimi gel We acknowledge the financial support by China State Key Lab-
with 1.5 g/100 g NaCl is suitable for printing which is related to the oratory of Food Science and Technology Innovation Project (Con-
possible protein structural changes by the addition of salt. Im- tract No. SKLF-ZZA-201706), Jiangsu Province (China)
provements in gel strength, WHC and network structure were “Collaborative Innovation Center for Food Safety and Quality Con-
observed with increasing addition of NaCl. Besides material prop- trol” Industry Development Program, Jiangsu Province (China)
erties, the results of process optimisation for 3D printing confirmed Infrastructure Project (Contract No. BM2014051) which have
that the nozzle diameter, nozzle height, the nozzle movement enabled us to carry out this study.
108 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 220 (2018) 101e108

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