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.
Obviously, this would appeal to Bud drinkers.
I'd think it would make more sense to have an independent device/filter which would convert urine into potable water, which you could then decide to put into your "I can't believe its not urinated" brand chicken MRE, or drink outright, or store in your canteen.
I just hope they stop here, and don't attempt to make any 'Ask what brown can do for you' MREs.
No, they don't have "Ham and MF-ers" any more. Two great VietNam Aircav guys I met in Bryant Tx regaled me with a hilarious story about a guy that always got to the rations after everyone else, and used to bitch and moan religiously: "Awwww man, NOT 'HAM-and-MF-ers' AGAIN!!!!". Then one day, he was digging through the food for an unusually long time, and finally exclaimed in exasperation, "Awww, man! I can't believe it! NO 'HAM-and-MFers'!!!
No salt required.
You're probably going to hurl, but I LIKED ham and MF-ers. I heard that some guys found another use for them. The M60 machine gun had a bad habit of jamming if the belt didn't feed in just right. They took a full can of ham and MF-ers and fastened (welded?/brazed?) it to the feed tray. The belt rolled right over the can and fed into the gun without any stoppages.
Lets make the gitmo guests rehydrate their food before eating it.
You're right about using C-rat cans for a M-60 feed tray! Only I forgot that ham-&-mfers came in the same large size can as spaghetti-and-meat-sauce. Clamping that canned spaghetti (which wasn't bad!) to your door gun to insure reliable feeding was a real sacrifice, ha!
Yeh, "if you ain't peeing, you ain't drinking enough water. However, "water" can also be had in the food you eat. Some animals get all or nearly all of their water from their food. We can't do that, but every little bit helps. Which is the whole point of this recycling thingie. More water input to the soldier for the same logistics burden, or in cases where troops temporarily have no access to resupply of water.
Because of perspiration, the system isn't closed, and water must still be supplied of course. But not as much. Might make the available supplies of water stretch just far enough so that no one dies of dehydration.
Actually it's not even quite that simple. Humans, and other animals, also make water just in living. Basically we burn carbohydrates, fats and protein, to make water, carbon dioxide and various other gases in much smaller amounts, along with the energy that is (part of) the point of the exercise.
Beat me to it.
I don't want to know if they are working on making excement edible.
I GOTTA spell check.
That would be "excrement", not something that used to be cement.
now I'm really p*ssed off! it also sounds like a good reason to drink more beer.
In the new Army, I suppose the women in combat will just have to squat down in front of the guys and "rehydrate" their MRI's like everyone else.
They come up with dessert Brownies and I'm gunna barf.
dude - the potato-all-rotten and chicken-ala-king is VILE
I confess to a strong liking of the dehydrated sausage patties - dry.
and the peaches are great, though it is not necessarily wise to eat them before rehydrating... they will suck your mouth dry.
Sure there are some compunds in there, but nothing toxic. Urine is completely sterile.
Evertime I've been near dehydration, I've haven't had an pee to spare.
Cheese spread product and mini Tabasco sauce bottle can make anything taste relatively edible.
Cheers!
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