N CONSIDERING tho
food requirements of our. Army %moverseas use, it is probably ~vellt o review firat t h u existing ration structure in"co n%ich the foods are f i t t e d , The Bp, S . Arniy rnt'ion is ofhially tho b o d aliovc.ed f w one man f ~one r day, I n this coiantry and, In so far as practicable, a3verseas as well, tho basis ratio^ for OUT Lroops is Field Ration A. $$is designat,iori covers more the niethorl of g r o e ~ ~ r e m and issue thara the foods involved, since Field Ration A i:~ oomposed of just those foods, perishable and nonpel.jsha,blo, which you and 1. eat every day. nllaijter inenus are made up well in advance for each month by the OfEco of The Quartermaster General and submitted Lo each service comxrmncl (farnierly called "corps area") in this conntry. Since the commanding general of each service cornrnanrl is charged with responsibility for tho nutrition of the inen in his cornnnnnd, these menus are suggestions only, but in practice they arc followed rather closely because they w e based on expert
FOODSTUFFS #
Subsistence Research Laboratory I n the fall of 1920 the need for a training center for sub-
The last full class was graduated in May, 1936, and immediately thereafter the school was redesignated “Subsistence Research Laboratory”. While several small classes have undergone instruction since this time, the courses have been shortened, and the primary emphasis has been on research. The laboratory continued through late in 1940 with a staff never numbering more than five men, but a t that time the pressure of development work combined with a somewhat greater availability of funds started an expansion which accelerated as the war became more imminent until today, when the staff numbers sixteen officers, four civilian technicians, and clerical help. The laboratory regards its primary function as that of liaison between the Army on one hand and the universities and food industries on the other. Almost all the members of
sistence personnel led to the establishment of a Quartermaster Corps Subsistence School a t the Chicago Quartermaster Depot. The school waa opened with a staff of three and a a class of two. In January, 1921, the school was firmly enough established to take in a class of sixteen for an elevenmonth course. In the years that followed, the school continued to operate on essentially the same scale, although the st& was increased to five. Within the limitations of time and funds available, a certain amount of research work was carried on during this period, although the primary function continued to be that of instruction, including the writing of the textbooks used. Many of the current key officers in subsistence work, from General Hardigg down, studied a t the school during this period.
Photo by
U. S. Army Signal Corps
Contents of the Supper Unit of Field Ration K __
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Meeting of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY,Buffalo, N . Y . 13
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1: N D bT 8 T W I A 'I4 A W D E N G P N E E R 1N Q C %a E M 1 S T W Y
Val. 35, No. I
the staff have both military nntl technical backgrounds to a,id in carrying out, this purpose, The technical problems involved i n developing foods for army ~ i s eare so inany, so varied, and 'io great that no one ageiicy coixltl hope t o untlertake their solution unaided, Conversely. cveii though food technology in this country may be the inovt advanced in tlie ~yorld,no efficient use of it can iir innde by our Army without an agency which can speak and understand both tnilitary and scient,ific language: military neocis niiist be trailslated into concrete projects for t'he food iiitlirstries and technical institutes, and the military uscfulncss of new dcvclopments in food science and technology n i u s t be Iwognizetl. T h e Subsistence :Research Laboratory carries on no research projects which other agencies are ahle and n-jliing t o undertake, but tries chiefly t o correlate the res( h tieing done and to adapt it to military use.
Field Ration R Is Stable and Palatable under Conditions af Arctic Cold or Besexi" n @ a t Photo by U. S. Army Signal Carps
Specific mention should be made of Ancel Keys and his group at the University of Minnesota. Because of the unusual facilities existing there, invaluable work has been done in. testing out combat rations under various oorditions of climate and performance, Lately the FIarvard Fatigue liaboratory, with similar facilities, has undertaken sorile of this work in addit'ion to its earlier studies of clothing and equipment and has already contributed materially in this field.
perational rations The chief operational ration now in use for tactical situations in which the field kitchen cannot be used i s I?ield Ration C* One C ratioii consists of six m n s ~ Three of them, one for each meal, are identical; each c:antains apeoia,l bi5euits, hard candy, soluble coffee, and sugar. The other
earlier iron rations of hardt;ic:k, corned beef, beans, and chocolate, \ye at the laboratory consider it 111 in the light of later developments. ergency ration is Field Ration D. 'i%ki consists of t,hree 4-ounce chocolate bars, specially compoundetl so that t~heywill not softer, urrduly a t even desert or tm~pic:il terriperatiiues, and reinforced with thiamine chloride to lielp xie1aboXise their calories. This is also a special product with no comniercial counterpart. It was developt?tl by Colonel Logan in 1935 during his tenure as Assistant Goin-. mandant of The Quartermaster Subsistence School. Tho rcrnainirrg comhat ration is Field Ratjon IC. ' l h -veloprnent work ~I~arterEoarlg ;ir 1 and tlrc? first production for other than test; parpo \\'as 1,oguxi i:1 *llLLy> I942 Work was bCKL1ll in lespon; n a roqiii:stt rror-n the paraetiule troops for an extmnicly light and cornpaol; i to be carriec! on their jumps. It hae provixl :w factory that it bids fair to replace bhe C, ration ioi. all. combat ~
January, 1943
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
use. The ration consists of three separate units, one for each meal. Each is packaged in a moisture-vapor-resistant, gasresistant, nonmetallic container, and contains two different types of biscuits, canned meat or cheese, a confection, a beverage concentrate, chewing gum to allay thirst, and four cigarets. The meat units, confections, and beverages are different for each of the three meals. While this ration has seemed unnecessarily complex to some, the variety contained in it is deliberate. No simpler ration has yet been found which did not become so tiresome within a few days that the test subjects did not eat sufficient to meet their nutritional requirements. On all the tests of the 31 ration, men who have lived on it for a week have almost invariably indicated their willingness to remain on the ration for as long again, and many have said that they could stay on it indefinitely. Measurements of food intake and objective measurements of performance ability, both in the laboratory and in the field, have indicated that the ration is well tolerated and that the fighting efficiency of the men is maintained. These, then, are the rations now in use by the Army. Others are in various stages of development, but any discussion of them now would be premature.
Guiding principles for designing a ration The first principle is palatability. No space or weight is saved, and no nutritional purpose is served by bringing to the soldier food he will not eat. The food must be palatable, not only a t first but also after frequent repetition. The second requisite is nutritional value. Each ration must be nutritionally adequate for its specific purpose. This will be governed partly by the length of time the soldier will use it and partly by the duties he will have to perform. Each ration component must contribute its share. The third indispensable is stability. Most army rations will encounter severe conditions of transportation and storage which will render inedible a high proportion of the foods to which we are normally accustomed. The fourth basic principle is concentration. All foods for overseas use, especially those which must be transported into the combat zone, must be reduced to the minimum compatible with the other requirements just mentioned in both weight and bulk. Subsistence officers are speaking not only of calories per ounce, but also of calories per cubic inch. Other factors, such as ease of preparation in the field,
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availability, presumptive production capacity, cost, and physiological effect, must be taken into account, but the four basic criteria must be met before any food material can be seriously considered. Much has been done by the Subsistence Research Laboratory to meet the peculiar problems posed in feeding an army in the field. Even more has been done by private agencies a t the instance of the laboratory or with some guidance from it. It is now pertinent to list some of the developments which must be made.
Problems to be solved In general, the laboratory is interested in seeing any foods which meet the basic requirements listed above. None of the rations is immutably fixed, and specifications are frequently revised in the light of later knowledge. If anyone has a food product which has not been submitted to the laboratory and which is palatable, nutritious, concentrated, and stable for a year a t 120" F., we want to see it. More specifically, the laboratory wants to see more foods which are concentrated, stable sources of vitamin C. For various reasons we shun vitamin pills for routine administration. We want our nutrients in foods. We are willing to consider fortification, however, if the resultant product is a stable vitamin source. Another specific problem is dessert. Desserts are usually rich in calories and are well received by the men. Our list of usable desserts, however, is badly in need of expansion. The products sought must be high in caloric density (calories per cubic inch), must require no preparation, or must be easily prepared by small groups with no cooking equipment and will preferably not be packed in tin. Along more fundamental lines, we need to know more about flavor. Frequently the only criterion of quality of a product is its flavor, and the state of our knowledge leaves this entirely too subjective a measure to be reliable for specification and control of quality. Another general requirement is for information. The pressure of work at the laboratory is far too great to allow any of us to do a systematic job of keeping up with the literature. It will help immeasurably if those working on human nutrition, food, or food analysis will mail us reprints of their publications. We cannot otherwise hope to see more than a few of them.
A Typical Dock Scene a s Goods in Mounting Volume Arrive a t Kansas City Quartermaster Depot
