Posted on 07/21/2004 10:27:02 PM PDT by Pikamax
US army food... just add urine
No Thanksgiving Dinner here - the pouch serves up chicken and rice The US military has devised a way to ensure its troops in battle need never go hungry - with dried food that can by rehydrated using dirty water or urine. The meal comes in a pouch that filters out 99.9% of bacteria and most toxic chemicals, says New Scientist magazine.
The aim is to reduce the amount of water soldiers need to carry.
The firm behind it says soldiers should only use urine as last resort - as the membrane can not filter out urea, which in the long term causes kidney damage.
"The pouch - containing chicken and rice - relies on osmosis to filter the water or urine," the New Scientist Magazine reported.
The liquid passes through a membrane, thin sheets of a cellulose-based plastic with gaps just 0.5 nanometres wide.
It means only clean water can reach the food, and the bacteria is left behind.
'Indestructible sandwich'
The idea has come from the Combat Feeding Directorate, part of the US Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Massachusetts.
The organisation is also the brains behind the "indestructible sandwich", which can stay fresh for three years.
A spokeswoman said the dehydrated pouches would reduce the current weight of 3.5kg for a day's food supply of three meals, to 0.4kg.
But Hydration Technology Inc, in Albany, Oregon, which made the membrane, warned it is too coarse to filter out urea so soldiers should only use urine in an absolute emergency.
Engineer Ed Beaudry was quoted by the New Scientist as saying that the body would not find using urine to rehydrate food toxic in the short term, but in the long term it would cause kidney damage.
No way in hell would this catch on in the civilian market with urine. Last resort is right... well maybe after sewage water.
You obviously don't live near San Francisco. This is a guaranteed best seller in the Bay Area....
geez.
This is how we treat our soldiers??
In all seriousness, this does make sense for desert deployment, or where troops have extremely limited access to clean water.
If you were paying close attention, urine was listed as a "LAST RESORT" for rehydration of the food pack. The filtration membrane is good for all bacteria and MOST chemical compound pollutants.
In a pinch, you use what you have.
I can't even begin to guess what you are going to say about this one.
Well, I can, but I don't want to. :^)
I'll repeat what I said on the other thread on this topic.
This is n othing new, we had cooks who did this to the chow back in the 60's, at least it sure tatsed that way. ;-)
Todays 3 meals are nearly 9 pounds? Hardly...
Though I would bet that the mere threat of being issued these would insure most military objectives being taken before lunchtime.
Ok I could deal with eating "shit on a shingle" but "piss in a pouch?".....no way!
Okay, okay. It's let for me to say: I'll pass
This can't be anything new. I'm pretty sure at least half the MRE's I've had are nothing but post-processed human organic material from the Korean war.
And just who volunteered to taste test this product?
A urine poultice to heal human and animal infections/wounds is common knowledge in much of the world.
See:
Urine Therapy: Nature's Elixir for Good Health by Flora Peschek-Bohmer, Ph.D. and Gisela Schreiber.
Your Own Perfect Medicine by Martha M. Christy
"Now that the battle has died down, I think I'll have a Cheez WHIZ sandwich............"
Hey this is what they use for the astronauts...they could nevedr carry enough water into a space flight so they had to develop a very efficient and thorough way of turning urine back into potable water ( I know this for a number of reasons including having one of my chemistry profs be the lead on the project)...So the military is now using a similar technique...works for me and hey as a civilian I'd be happy to use it if it meant that I could have food....
YIKES!
Not according to this- http://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/books/apollo/S6CH4.htm
"The potable water system was an essential element in the Apollo life support system. It provided water, on demand, for drinking, personal hygiene, dehydrated food reconstitution, and for cabin cooling. Unlike earlier spacecraft which relied upon stored water as the only potable water source, the Apollo system provided for resupply of onboard stores by utilization of byproduct water from fuel cell operation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.