Military nears holy grail: Pizza that lasts years

[jsr]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MRE_PIZZA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-02-14-09-03-37

Feb 14, 9:03 AM EST
Military nears holy grail: Pizza that lasts years
By RODRIQUE NGOWI

NATICK, Mass. (AP) -- They call it the holy grail of ready-to-eat meals for soldiers: a pizza that can stay on the shelf for up to three years and still remain good to eat.

Soldiers have been asking for pizza since lightweight individual field rations - known as meals ready to eat, or MREs - replaced canned food in 1981 for soldiers in combat zones or areas where field kitchens cannot be set up.

Researchers at a U.S. military lab in Massachusetts are closing in on a recipe that doesn't require any refrigeration or freezing.

"You can basically take the pizza, leave it on the counter, packaged, for three years and it'd still be edible," said Michelle Richardson, a food scientist at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center.

[ladjf]

1. Hmm. That doesn't sound like something that would taste good. nt

[PoliticAverse]

2. But is it worse than the cheeseburger in a can...

http://www.avclub.com/article/taste-test-cheeseburger-in-a-can-2183

[ladjf]

4. No. Cheesebuger in a can sound way worse. nt

[Aerows]

10. I've

never in my life ever seen a "food" item that looks as foul as that - maybe the cheese that has maggots in it, but it's pretty close.

[COLGATE4]

3. It already exists.

Just leave a Dominos on your shelf for a couple of years- it'll look (and taste) about the same.

[Vashta Nerada]

5. Doesn't Totinos have a pizza that can last for years?

[Stargazer09]

6. You'd be amazed

MREs are awful, but when you are really hungry, they are surprisingly good.

[msanthrope]

7. I ate a beef stew one on a camping trip..it wasn't bad, but I was ravenous. nt

[FSogol]

9. True, except for the chicken n' feathers one.

[Alkene]

8. Food chemistry accommodating endless foreign occupation by the American Empire.

That's nice.

[CrackerJohn]

11. Must be Pizza Hut - that stuff tastes like it's three-years old the moment they bring it out.

[TlalocW]

12. I kind of think that's the point of MREs... To be edible but not very tasty

That way soldiers won't give in to cravings of delicious food when they should save it.

The military went to Milton Hershey during WWII asking him to develop a candy bar that wouldn't melt or otherwise be damaged from conditions soldiers had to face, and they asked him to make it not too good tasting.

TlalocW