UAE: Holographic food could soon hit shelves near you

Abu Dhabi - The team of researchers worked with lasers and corn syrup to create the shiny effect.

A team of researchers has developed a way to print edible holograms onto food using lasers and corn syrup.

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The researchers, including Khalifa University’s Dr Haider Butt, have had their work published in American Chemical Society Nano and funded by Khalifa University, Sandooq Al Watan, Aldar Properties and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Shiny and beautiful, holographic chocolate is a common sight among chocolatiers wanting to make an impact. But beyond aesthetics, holograms on food — specifically, edible holograms — could be used to reduce packaging needs, for example, as information about nutritional content or labels could be printed directly onto the food item.

Most holograms are imprinted onto metal surfaces with lasers to give the metal that shiny rainbow effect, but the volume of metal required for food would render the food inedible.

Holographic chocolate works by moulding edible holograms onto the surface of the chocolate, imprinting patterns that cause light to diffract into the classic rainbow pattern. However, this process only works for certain types of chocolate.