"An army marches on its belly." That famous quote has been attributed to various warriors ranging from Frederick the Great to Napoleon Bonaparte. And military planners throughout history knew how important it was to keep the fighters fed.
These days the MRE is the standard field ration. And they are getting a makeover. See Here's Everything in the New Pizza MRE, Headed to the Field Soon. They appear to be simple foods sealed in a vacuum package. That's something anyone can produce at home, so there had to be more to it.
So note this interesting factoid from After years of anticipation, the pizza MRE is finally coming to the field:
All MREs need to have a shelf life of at least three years when stored at 80 degrees or below in order to be viable as an option, according to the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center. ...
Here's how they conducted a speedy test for that duration:
MREs are placed in a 100-degree box for six months during testing in order to simulate the three-year life span at under 80 degrees. The mass produced pizzas were turning brown under the testing, a problem that had not surfaced during the initial testing of the lab-made pizzas.
The browning was not a safety issue, but more of a quality issue.
“We want to make sure we give [troops] a quality product,” Natick spokesman David Accetta told Army Times in February.
Officials later found a fix for the browning — rosemary extract.
Mmmmm! Vacuum packed pizza!
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1:34 PM 6/2/2018
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