Abstract:
Food three-dimensional (3D) printing technology is an emerging additive manufacturing technology in the food processing industry. It enables the production of personalized and customized food products, and is of great significance in meeting the growing demand for high-quality foods. Starch is an important dietary component and primary energy for human beings, and has great potential in 3D printing materials due to its unique gel properties. Citrus fibers possess excellent rheological properties, mechanical properties, nutritional value, and environmental benefits, offering broad application prospects. Currently, most starch-based formulations for 3D printing rely on the starch pasting and retrogradation to form printable gels. However, these gels often exhibit poor self-supporting ability and limited storage stability. To address these limitations, this study utilized normal maize starch as the research object and incorporated citrus fibers (0-6.4%) to prepare starch-based composite gels. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), rheometer, low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR), Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and texturometer were applied to explore the effects of different citrus fibers concentration on the microstructure, rheological properties, moisture distribution, starch short-range molecular order, and textural properties of the 3D printed starch-based products. In addition, printing accuracy was quantified based on the shape deviation. The results demonstrated that the addition of citrus fibers enhanced the structural integrity of the printed starch gels, which remained stable for up to 7 days without significant collapse. The starch composite gel exhibited a more compact microstructure, increased viscosity, and higher storage modulus and energy dissipation modulus. The results of infrared spectroscopy indicated that the short range ordered degree of starch gels was enhanced with the addition of citrus fibers, contributing to colloidal stability. Furthermore, the textural properties, such as hardness and gelation, significantly increased during storage, which contributed to improving the storage stability of the printed products.