Food printers are not only being developed in the research lab but private companies are also in the picture.

Startup Essential Dynamics will soon be marketing a 3D food printer that will retail for $1,000, according to SmartPlanet's Joe McKendrick.

Cornell Creative Machines Lab and MIT have also been developing 3D food priters. Here's how the one from Cornell will work:

“The CCML food printers require edible inks and electronic blueprints called FabApps. This machine prints food using multiple cartridges, going line by line until the desired shape is extruded. ‘The electronic blueprint specifies exactly which materials go where–it is essentially a blueprint of the food item,’ says Hod Lipson, the head of the lab. It’s a way to create new flavors and forms of food by varying its chemical properties. ‘It’s a huge ‘design space,’ and the combination of tastes and textures, geometries and colors that can be achieved is enormous,’ says Lipson.”

Photo Credit: Fab@Home