From: gherbert@retro.com   
      
   John Schilling  wrote:   
   >"Allen Thomson"  writes:   
   >>Ian Stirling wrote:   
   >>> The claim is basically rubbish.   
   >>> No, freeze-dried stuff may not have all of the nutrients it once did   
   >>> ten years out, or be quite as tasty.   
   >   
   >>I checked on MREs and the Army's nutrition lab says that they're   
   >>nutritionally good beyond 10 years if held unfrozen at 15 C   
   >>(60 degrees 'murkin).  So I agree, the claim that a few-year   
   >>mission couldn't get along on preserved food plus some   
   >>supplements looks pretty odd.   
   >   
   >The Army's nutrition lab also says that MREs, new or old, are   
   >nutritionally *bad* if they are the entirety of one's diet for   
   >more than a few weeks.  If you believe the Army, you can't just   
   >stock your Mars ship with a three-year supply of MREs and imagine   
   >the problem has been solved.   
      
   This is a function of the particulars of the MRE food loadout,   
   not of "equivalent to MRE technology stored food systems in general".   
      
   MRE is a useful simplification of what one would really want to   
   do, but in reality it wouldn't be anything exactly like a whole   
   bunch of pallets of DOD standard MRE units.   
      
   The MRE particulars are the proof by demonstration, not the   
   actual final implimentation.  Final implimentation will almost   
   certainly make use of a lot more well frozen food and stuff   
   that you just can't reasonably do for field MRE use and field   
   MRE volume requirements.  Deep frozen meat and some veggies are   
   obvious, deep frozen fruit in some cases easy in some not,   
   and for some types of fruits and veggies it looks like they   
   just don't store well and won't be on the menu.   
      
   I wonder how well sushi does in LN2...   
      
      
   -george william herbert   
   gherbert@retro.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)