June 25, 2014
Nestle, the largest food company in the world, says it is planning to build a real-world version of Star Trek-style replicator which produces "food at the press of a button" based on your nutritional needs.
The company's research department, the Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences, has started a new program, called Iron Man. 15 scientists are working on it to investigate links between dietary deficiencies and serious illnesses like cancer and diabetes.
"Iron Man is an analysis of what's missing in our diets, and a product, tailored to you, to help make up that difference," NIHS director Ed Baetge Ed Baetge, told Bloomberg. "In the past, food was just food. We're going in a new direction."
Most of the world's population is deficient in one or more essential vitamin or mineral, such as vitamin D and magnesium. NIHS scientists believe virtually everyone could benefit from knowing more about their so-called "nutrient profile," which contains information about deficiencies or excesses.
Eventually, Iron Man aims to be able to scan a person's body and discover what nutrients they are lacking in, and then offer supplements tailored to an individual's needs, possibly served up by a machine similar to its Nespresso coffee maker.
Baetge admits that a workable version of this could be decades away, but he does feel like it could resemble the "replicator" that synthesized meals on demand in the Star Trek TV series.
"Out comes your food at the press of a button. If we do this right, it can be the next microwave in your kitchen."
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Who knows maybe what they need is a 3d machine that spits out plastic prints and then we can take those prints and mold them, and then after molding them we can create popsickles of what we want to come out and just refill it. It's a crazy though but it could work.
Sum-Ting Wong wrote at 6/25/2014 11:41:32 PM:
My office has a machine that 3D prints coffee through an extruder.
Wild Bob wrote at 6/25/2014 8:29:15 AM:
I'd rather have a food pill.
Dan wrote at 6/25/2014 7:55:40 AM:
But first they will need to work out how to make real food. :-)
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