Evaluation of the Nutritional Intake and Acceptability of the Meal, Ready-to-Eat Consumed with and without a Supplemental Pack in a Cold Environment.

摘要

The Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) was adopted into service in 1985 as a replacement for the ration, the Meal Combat Individual, and now forms part of the Army Field Feeding System (AFFS). Its function is to provide an individual meal in field feeding environments when centralized feeding is either impractical or not possible. Resulting from queries on the long term viability and acceptability of both the AFFS and MRE, a Task Force (Task Force 2000) headed by LTG Sennewald (Ret.) was established in 1988 to conduct a wide ranging study and canvass the views of Commanders, officers and soldiers at all levels. This Task Force has initially determined an urgent need for a supplemental pack to enhance the acceptability of the earlier versions of the MRE (MRE IV through VII). Accordingly, a separate pack has been developed which incorporates those items most often requested by soldiers. In order to determine suitability of using this pack to enhance the nutritional intake and acceptability of the older versions of the MRE in addition to providing the basis of a cold weather supplement for the new MRE (MRE VIII), a 10 day field trial was held in Alaska in March 1989 with troops from A Companies of both the 1st and 2nd Bn 17th Infantry, 6th Infantry Division (Light), who were taking part in an evaluation exercise. (sdw)