Food tasting ration packs DPR/TV/1261

The Minister for the Army, Mr Andrew Peacock, recently played host to members of the Military Board, senior officers and officials of other departments in a food tasting operation at Army Headquarters in Canberra, ACT. The aim of the operation was to test the acceptability of dehydrated rations either now in service with troops or under development for future lightweight ration packs. Co-hosts for the food tasting were the Quartermaster General, Major General Ken Mackay, and the Defence Food Scientist, Dr R. Hutchinson. Dr Hutchinson has been working on the development of lightweight rations for almost 20 years. He says the present lightweight one-man ration pack now being used by Australian troops is probably the lightest in volume and weight in the world. About 20 items of food were on display for tasting by senior officers. The range included roast beef, ham steaks, beef curry, sweet and sour pork, chicken in white sauce, fish in sauce, minced beef with rice, ham omelettes, steak and onions, ham and beans with assorted vegetables. Two one-man ration packs were on display. Each ration pack supplies a soldier with two main meals and a snack, biscuits, chocolate and essential sundries such as toilet paper and matches and weighs only 2 3/4 lbs. The other one-man lighweight pack on display weighs only 1 1/2 lbs and has freeze-dried main meal components and can be reconstituted quickly with water. A combat ten-man ration pack was also on display. This weighs 43 lbs and is designed for group cooking and feeding. A collapsable stove, using Hexamine solid fuel, is used to demonstrate cooking facilities required by a soldier in the field. Ham and beans were used for the demonstration. Dr Hutchison explained to the guests that the one-man pack provided 2,800 calories a day for each man while the ten-man pack provided 3,500 calories for each man. Dr Hutchinson said that it was easier to develop ration packs for Australian troops than for those of some other countries such as the United Kingdom and America. Most Australians, he said, had a reasonably common taste for food.