I noticed that there was a new entry in Snopes talking about 3D printing.
Snopes, if you don’t know, is a web service that attempts to debunk “fake news” by proper analysis. You can visit the site and search for rumours, or something you heard about, and Snopes will (usually) tell you the truth about it. For example, you can read about the recent possible plague outbreak in Russia. They are one of the remaining major bastions against misinformation that the public can access.
The new entry that deals with 3D printing is this:
“Claim: Retail stores in the U.S. are selling 3D-printed meat, as of September.
Rating: True”
Snopes then goes on to explain in detail Steakholder Foods’ upcoming launch of their 3D-printed meat products in the US. We’ve been covering Steakholder Foods for several years now, and while the company seems to be undergoing some financial stress, this launch will be key to their future success.
That’s all good. But then I wondered, is this the first time that 3D Printing has hit Snopes?
I did a search.
And I found multiple 3D print-related entries in Snopes. The earliest entry was from 2011, where the claim was whether a 3D printer was able to print a wrench. Snopes marked that as “true”, and of course it was true. Back then the notion of printing a wrench might have been a bit science fictiony, but it was indeed real. I printed one myself back then.
What other entries are in Snopes about 3D printing? Let’s make a list:
- Jul 11, 2016 Claim: A biotech company has developed a 3D synthetic rhino horn that will eventually undercut the market for poached horns. (Mixture)
- Jul 26, 2018 Claim: Did the U.S. State Department Legalize the Publication of Instructions for 3D-printed guns? (Mostly True)
- Sep 5, 2020 Claim: Following the Jan. 1, 2019, legalization of physician-assisted death in Hawaii, state leaders bought 30 “[3D printed] passing assistance pods.” (Satire)
- Feb 26, 2022 Claim: Do sea urchins wear 3D-printed hats? (True)
- Mar 29, 2024 Claim: A factory in the Netherlands, Redefine Meat, is 3D-printing meat cultivated from animal stem cells and sold in restaurants in Germany. (Mixture)
- Nov 25, 2025 Claim: Campbell’s Soup used “bioengineered meat” and “3-D printed chicken” in its products. (False)
I recall seeing some of these memes floating about the Internet on those dates, and it is good to see that Snopes investigated them.
Today the general public is far more informed about 3D printing, and so we will probably not see more appear in Snopes — unless it is particularly outrageous.
Via Snopes
