Past, present and future of military food technology

Food technology has been instrumental in ensuring that troops remain “fit to fight”. Early food technologies produced flat bread, hard biscuits, cheese and salted meat, allowing Roman legionaries to carry rations for several days. Canning was invented in the late 18th century in response to the French Government’s offer of a substantial reward to the person whose invention would allow troops to carry their food when marching long distances. World War II saw further advances in the form of stable and palatable canned meals, compressed cereal bars, candy-coated peanuts and other innovative foods in US combat rations. Two significant technology breakthroughs in the second half of the 20th century have altered the form of military rations. Freeze drying matured as an industrial technology, allowing the production of long-life, light-weight rations. Flexible packaging, based on plastic laminates, led to reduced weight and less waste disposal through the development of retort pouched meals (meals in flexible packaging that have undergone heat sterilization), which have largely replaced metal cans in combat rations. Improvements in quality of military rations, particularly their organoleptic properties, are emerging through application of innovative technologies such as high-pressure thermal processing, pulsed electric field, and microwave assisted thermal sterilization. Research and development of “functional foods”, such as those containing added essential fatty acids or probiotics offers the potential to provide combat rations that can further improve soldier health and performance.