Food for thought: tasty treats on the way

There’s something about institutional food and me that doesn’t work. I guess it started with those scrambled eggs immersed in a lake of brown grease at summer camp. Next, it was those Swedish meatballs in the high school cafeteria. What was in that gravy? Finally, it was a whole pile of different foods at basic training for my hitch with the Air National Guard. I can’t remember any of the specific delicacies now, but I do know one thing: I lost nearly 25 pounds that brutally hot summer in San Antonio and it wasn’t all due to the heat and humidity.

So, while I’ve been away from mass-produced foodstuffs for some time now, for those of you in school or on military maneuvers, I feel your heartburn.

But I am here today to give y’all some good news: thanks to chemistry, help is on the way for the military!

The portable packages of food called the Meal, Ready to Eat (MRE) that sustain military personnel in combat or field conditions without  regular food facilities are getting tastier and more sophisticated thanks to innovations in food technology. That’s the focus of an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS’ weekly newsmagazine.

C&EN Senior Editor Bethany Halford notes that the forerunners to today’s MREs, known as C Rations, consisted of simple ingredients like beans and franks or ham slices in little green cans. One former soldier described the meals as “big wads of grease.” By contrast, today’s MRE contains a main course like ravioli, bread, moist lemon poppy seed cake for dessert, a packet of instant coffee or other powdered beverage, and a flameless heater. Instead of cans, modern field rations come in tough pouches that can withstand heavy downpours and endure helicopter air-drops.

Scientists have devoted years to developing the modern MRE, which must meet a strict set of criteria, including a prolonged shelf life ranging from months to even years. MRE packaging now contains protective layers, composed of foil and other materials, which block out oxygen, water vapor, and light to keep food from spoiling. Scientists are currently testing improved packaging materials, advanced sterilization techniques, and better ways to heat foods. Who knows, military personnel of the future may even find that MRE with crab cakes in sweet pepper aioli and finish up with a lemon curd napoleon.

To read more about this innovation, go to good food.

 

Image courtesy of U.S. Department of Defense