Military Pizza... safe or not safe?

[Sassafras]

The military released information last month about a new food item which is going to be added to MREs in August of this year. 

PIZZA!!!!

I would like to be really, really happy for the military and the soilders, but I can't be, because no food able to last 3 years in 80 degree temperatures without spoilage can be good.  I am not talking about taste, I'm talking about those pesky brain cell killers called excitotoxins.   The ingredients used to produce this "holy grail" pizza can't be excitotoxins-free to exist.  And here is my proof:  Though all the ingredients haven't been released, this paragraph says enough:

But on-and-off research over the past few years helped them figure out ways to prevent moisture from migrating. That includes using ingredients called humectants — sugar, salt and syrups can do the trick — that bind to water and keep it from getting to the dough.

The full article can be read here:  http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/military-developing-pizza-lasts-years-article-1.1614433


Humectants are not ordinary "sugar", "salt", or "syrups".

Examples of Humectants include:

• propylene glycol (E1520), hexylene glycol, and butylene glycol
• glyceryl triacetate (E1518)
  
• vinyl alcohol
  
• neoagarobiose
  
• Sugar alcohols/sugar polyols: glycerol/glycerin, sorbitol (E420), xylitol, maltitol (E965)
  
• polymeric polyols (e.g., polydextrose (E1200))
  
• quillaia (E999)
  
• urea
  
• aloe vera gel
  
• MP Diol
  
• alpha hydroxy acids (e.g., lactic acid)
• honey
  

This list is from Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humectant


Here is an explanation of some of the Humectants listed above:

>>>Sugar alcohols/sugar polyols: glycerol/glycerin, sorbitol (E420), xylitol, maltitol (E965)  All fake sugars are Excitotoxins


>>>polymeric polyols (e.g., polydextrose (E1200))  Polydextrose... "It is a multi-purpose food ingredient synthesized from dextrose (glucose), plus about 10 percent sorbitol and 1 percent citric acid. Its E number is E1200. The FDA approved it in 1981" Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydextrose

>>>quillaia (E999)  Quillaia is a Bark Extract.

The above information is from Wikipedia.



The US Army http://nsrdec.natick.army.mil/media/fact/index.htm has this to say about allergies http://nsrdec.natick.army.mil/media/fact/food/Allergens.htm:

Allergen Information for Operational Rations

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about two percent of adults in the United States suffer from food allergies. Furthermore, the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network has reported that in the past five years the estimated number of Americans with food allergies has doubled. Similarly, the Military Services, the Office of the Surgeon General and Military Dietitians have seen an increase in Warfighters exhibiting allergic reactions to a wide variety of foods. The eight major food allergens are milk, egg, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish and wheat.

Why It Is Needed:

Operational rations may contain ingredients that are allergens, potentially causing adverse health effects to Warfighters with severe food allergies. Many military rations contain gluten, which is present in barley, rye, wheat and oats. In addition, food allergies may lead to under-consumption of operational rations and may cause potentially serious health risks including anaphylaxis that may trigger a series of symptoms affecting the respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, skin, or cardiovascular system. These reactions can be mild to life threatening.
The only way to prevent an allergic reaction to a particular food is to avoid it. The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act has required that since January 2006, all commercial and military ration manufacturers of packaged foods containing any of the eight major allergens list the allergens present in the food ingredient statement.In addition, manufacturers are encouraged to avoid/eliminate cross-contamination and to follow good manufacturing practices to help eliminate adverse allergic reactions in food components present in combat rations.

Comments

The labeling of allergen warnings on combat ration components is meant for consumer education but not to indicate the suitability of combat rations for deployed Warfighters with severe food allergies or food intolerances. Only a Warfighter’s primary medical care provider is qualified to make determinations as to their deployability due to food allergies or food intolerance.

I love this part:

The only way to prevent an allergic reaction to a particular food is to avoid it.

Words to live by when you're not out in the middle of nowhere with what to eat?




I will provide more information when it becomes available.

Waiting...
~Sass

[misfitguy]

It's fitting that the US Army is creating non-food, food stuffs.  After all, they are responsible for introducing MSG to the food manufacturers after World War II.  Without their demanding that food providers use MSG in foods they made for the Army in the K-rations or todays MRE's, American food producers would never been introduced to MSG, and all its forms.  Wow, that's something to think about.  If we didn't have excitotoxins in our food system, restaurants would have to have cooks and food would be prepared on site. There would be no regional food processing centers, so the abundance of chain/expressway restaurants would be narrowed only to those that could train personnel to cook and to deliver palatable food.  The medical industry would be able to concentrate on preventative measures instead of doctoring symptoms caused by MSG and other excitotoxins.  The pharmaceutical industry would have had time to do real research on medicines that can help us rather than producing symptom masking pills.

We would have to cook more at home and use less prepared foods.  The large box stores would have to cater to our needs by supplying us with fresh produce, canned goods that don't sit for years on a shelf and cereals that would actually have healthy ingredients.  The snack industry wouldn't be able to offer all sorts of flavors on their chips, crackers, etc and they could concentrate on making healthy snacks, rather than addictive tasty snacks.

So, it only seems fitting the US Army should produce a non-food, food item.  We can only hope it will soon be available in our local supermarket.

Keep up the good fight

Mick