Swedish towns plan to use technology to entice elderly people to eat more.
Halmstad municipality on the west coast is planning to use 3D-printers to take purified broccoli and chicken, which is served in circular slabs thickened with egg and starch, and re-shape it into florets and drumsticks.
"When you find it hard to chew and swallow, the food that exists today doesn't look very appetising," said Richard Asplund, head of the catering department at Halmstad.
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He said the 3D-printed food will look like the real deal, but the texture will be similar to panna cotta.
Around 8 percent of adults in Sweden have difficulties chewing or swallowing.
The researcher who is coordinating the project, Evelina Höglund, says the issue is a daily battle.
"It's a big problem that people who get consistency-adapted food get malnourished because they eat too little," she told Telegraph.
The challenge, according to Ms Höglund, is to adapt printers designed for medical technology to be hygienic, and able to print in large enough quantities to serve everyone.
First trial meals are expected to be served in care homes in Halmstad and Helsingborg by the end of this year.
Newshub.
