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February 25th, 2009 | AUSA Winter 2009 | Posted by Michelle Tan
Are you a fan of the tiny, distinctive bottles of Tabasco sauce that come with every Meal Ready to Eat? If you are, you might want to start saving them.
In an effort that will save taxpayers $700,000 a year, the folks from the Defense Department Combat Feeding Program are swapping out the bottles for small, silver pouches made from material tough enough to – as one expert said – “withstand the aggressive nature” of the sauce. Officials wouldn’t say what materials were used to make the durable pouches, but they did say that previous attempts to replace the bottles were unsuccessful because the materials didn’t hold up against the beloved hot sauce.
If all goes as planned, the bottles, which each hold one-eighth of an ounce of Tabasco and have been a staple in MREs since 1988, will be history by 2011.
In other combat feeding news, the FDA recently approved the program’s revolutionary high-pressure processing method, which will allow the military to soon include fruit, egg and marine products in MREs and First Strike Rations. As a test, scientists at Combat Feeding just last week used the method to produce peaches, chopped up and syrupy, just like the stuff you find in cans.
If this high-pressure processing method takes off, it will be the first time in 200 years that food will be processed and preserved in a new way.
In addition, look for new menu items for the MRE and entire new menus for the First Strike Rations. In 2011, look for MREs with lemon pepper tuna, vegetarian ratatouille, Santa Fe rice and beans and turkey bites. New items in the First Strike Rations include cherry turnovers, pork barbecue tortillas and sweet and spicy tuna.
Tags: Combat feeding, First Strike Rations, MRE