Vulcan Foundry
07-21-2004, 10:26 PM
US military cooks up 'add urine and eat' rations
United States food technologists have invented dried rations that a soldier can rehydrate by using dirty water or even his own urine, the British weekly New Scientist reports.
The ration is surrounded by a plastic membrane made of a nanofibre that, according to its inventors, can filter out 99.9 per cent of microbes and the most harmful toxic compounds, allowing only clean water to get to the preserved food.
So far, only one prototype - chicken and rice - has been tested, but the menu will be expanded to incorporate other favourites if the concept proves popular.
The inventors are the Combat Feeding Directorate, part of the US Army Soldier Systems Centre in Natick, Massachusetts.
Two years ago, their men and women came up with an "indestructible sandwich" that could stay fresh for three years.
The goal behind the latest gastronomic breakthrough is to reduce the amount of water that soldiers have to carry around with them, both within the food and for cooking it.
One day's food supply of three meals weights 3.5 kilos per person, but that can be reduced to a mere 400 grams with the dehydrated pouches.
The New Scientist, which reports on the invention in the next issue, quotes experts as saying that rehydrating the food with urine should only be a last resort because the membrane is too coarse to filter out the chemical urea.
In the short term, the body will not find this toxic, but it could inflict kidney damage in the long term.
Here is the article at its original source:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1159190.htm
What the heck will they think up next and what the hell is an "Indestructible sandwich" made of ?
United States food technologists have invented dried rations that a soldier can rehydrate by using dirty water or even his own urine, the British weekly New Scientist reports.
The ration is surrounded by a plastic membrane made of a nanofibre that, according to its inventors, can filter out 99.9 per cent of microbes and the most harmful toxic compounds, allowing only clean water to get to the preserved food.
So far, only one prototype - chicken and rice - has been tested, but the menu will be expanded to incorporate other favourites if the concept proves popular.
The inventors are the Combat Feeding Directorate, part of the US Army Soldier Systems Centre in Natick, Massachusetts.
Two years ago, their men and women came up with an "indestructible sandwich" that could stay fresh for three years.
The goal behind the latest gastronomic breakthrough is to reduce the amount of water that soldiers have to carry around with them, both within the food and for cooking it.
One day's food supply of three meals weights 3.5 kilos per person, but that can be reduced to a mere 400 grams with the dehydrated pouches.
The New Scientist, which reports on the invention in the next issue, quotes experts as saying that rehydrating the food with urine should only be a last resort because the membrane is too coarse to filter out the chemical urea.
In the short term, the body will not find this toxic, but it could inflict kidney damage in the long term.
Here is the article at its original source:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1159190.htm
What the heck will they think up next and what the hell is an "Indestructible sandwich" made of ?