BLEAH!
Posted on 08/15/2005 2:05:08 PM PDT by steel_resolve
Would you eat food cooked in your own urine? Food scientists working for the US military have developed a dried food ration that troops can hydrate by adding the filthiest of muddy swamp water or even peeing on it.
The ration comes in a pouch containing a filter that removes 99.9 per cent of bacteria and most toxic chemicals from the water used to rehydrate it, according to the Combat Feeding Directorate, part of the US Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Massachusetts. This is the same organisation that created the "indestructible sandwich" that will stay fresh for three years (New Scientist print edition, 10 April 2002).
The aim is to reduce the amount of water soldiers need to carry. One day's food supply of three meals, weighs 3.5 kilograms but that can be reduced to about 0.4 kilograms with the dehydrated pouches, says spokeswoman Diane Wood.
The pouch - containing chicken and rice initially - relies on osmosis to filter the water or urine. When two solutions of different concentrations are separated by a semipermeable membrane, with gaps that allow only water molecules to pass through, the water is drawn to the more concentrated side.
Hungry soldier
The membranes are made of thin sheets of a cellulose-based plastic, with gaps between the fibres that are just 0.5 nanometres across, too small for bacteria to pass through.
A hungry soldier pours dirty water into one end of a foil sachet containing two inner pouches separated by the membrane. The water seeps through the membrane into the dehydrated food on the other side. As it dissolves large molecules in the food, it creates a very high concentration solution. The osmotic pressure created then draws more water through the membrane.
Hydration Technology of Albany, Oregon, which makes the membrane, says soldiers should only use urine in an absolute emergency because the membrane is too coarse to filter out urea.
The body will not find this toxic over the short term, says Ed Beaudry, an engineer with HTI, but rehydrating food this way in the long term would cause kidney damage.
Man, give the the old C rations any day of the week!!!!
Confucius say: `he who cook carrots and peas in pot, very unsanitary!'
For real, our survival medicine course in Vietnam said you can cleanse an open wound with (your own) urine.
Yet another reason to `piss cold' when your unit is hit with an unannounced urinalysis.
But I agree, I'd rather eat the new ration dry crunchy.
I think that's why they call Coors Light "canoe-sex beer" because it's "f'n close to water".
European?
Would Pabst be just as good?
And to think you had to pay to get this service in San Francisco...
Will wonders never cease....
"Mmmm, just mom used to make."
That's right billy, , now, don't forget to eat that brownie!
Original recipe all the way!
This just goes to show that Frank Herbert was a genius.
Trying to find a way to lessen the water load of a soldier is a big mistake. The body requires a certain amount of water per day to maintain homeostasis, and lessening that amount will result in dehydration. Perhaps in a survival situation, this technique is viable, but not for everyday use. I think a distillation process would be better than a passive reverse osmosis process.
Eleonor Clift would love this if she could get Bill Clinton to send her a gallon of urine.
Gives a whole new meaning of "pot to piss in"
Better that than the swamp water. Urine is pretty sterile, swamp water has enough "bugs" in it to give a whole division the Turkey Trots.
Water shortage. Since the urine is filtered, the process effectively recycles the water content of the urine. It would help to prevent dehydration.
ROTFLMAOAPMP (but not 'recycling'. :) )
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