Aldi shopper cooks chicken in air fryer and spots strange layers, then says ‘This has to be 3D-printed’
A side of chicken with a side of conspiracy.
An Aldi shopper pulled a chicken breast out of his air fryer and found strange layers running across the meat. TikToker Fraser Morse was so disturbed by its appearance that he became convinced the chicken had been 3D-printed.
Morse posts as @frasermorse, and showed the unusual chicken in a TikTok video. The meat appeared orange in places, with ripples across one side. He acknowledged that it was undercooked because he’d taken it out of the air fryer early, but insisted that didn’t explain the layers.
According to BroBible, Morse bought the chicken for around $11 to $12 and later threw it away without contacting Aldi. There’s no evidence that the meat was actually 3D-printed. Still, it’s not every day that dinner makes someone question whether their groceries came from a farm or a printer.
The chicken didn’t look like chicken
“Hey, this is disgusting,” Morse said before he zoomed in on the chicken breast. “This has to be 3D-printed,” he continued, pointing to the ridges running across its surface. “Yes, it’s undercooked. We took it out of the air fryer. It’s undercooked. I get it.”
However, the texture was what didn’t sit right with him. “Guaranteed 3D-printed, like, look at the layer. It’s layered,” he said, turning the chicken over to show that its underside looked more normal.
In an email interview with BroBible, Morse explained that his teenage son had started cooking the chicken without seasoning. Then he went to check on it and flip it when he spotted the lines that weren’t usually found on poultry.
He said he’d never seen a chicken breast look like that before. The TikToker also said he hadn’t complained to Aldi because he didn’t think he had enough evidence to support his suspicion.
3D-printed food is apparently a thing
Food can actually be 3D-printed, and the technology is not as new as most people might think it is. Back in 2013, 3D-printed pizza was already a reality.
Unlike an ordinary printer, some food-printing machines push edible ingredients through a nozzle, building a product layer by layer. Researchers have experimented with meat substitutes made from plant proteins, as well as printable mixtures containing animal-derived ingredients.
A 2024 review published in Discover Food explains how extrusion-based printing can shape meat alternatives by depositing material in layers. The technology allows researchers to adjust texture and structure, although producing realistic meat substitutes still presents challenges.
So Morse wasn’t wrong that layers can be part of 3D printing. Then again, treating those lines as proof is another matter, especially when claims about Aldi selling lab-grown chicken have circulated before without evidence.
For now, there’s a chicken breast with an unexplained appearance and a shopper who’s convinced it came from a printer. Chicken is supposed to be a source of protein, but an alleged 3D-printed version is mainly a source of mystery.
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