Food Components to Enhance Performance An Evaluation of Potential Performance-Enhancing Food Components for Operational Rations (1994) / Chapter Skim
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4. Optimizing the Design of Combat Rations
4. Optimizing the Design of Combat Rations
Pages 77-92
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From page 77... ...
National Academy Press 4 Optimizing the Design of Combat Rations Irwin A Taub' INTRODUCTION As Operation Desert Storm demonstrated, success on the battlefield depends on superior tactics, high-tech advanced equipment, and high-performing troops who can, under very stressful conditions, properly use the equipment to achieve the tactical objectives set for them.
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From page 78... ...
Details on rations and the research relating to the six factors that are crucial to designing combat rations appear elsewhere (Beard, 1991~. Only the work done at Natick on component preservation and on the heating of rations that would not generally be familiar is discussed here, primarily by reference to the combat rations currently under development.
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From page 79... ...
What clearly distinguishes this ration from the MRE is the placement of the entree item in a polymeric tray that has an integral heater capable of being activated by the pull of a tab. The entire component is actually a twotray system, with the upper tray containing the separately processed food nested within the lower tray containing the chemical heating system.
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From page 80... ...
In the case of the Salisbury steak shown in Figure 4-3, the container has a thin cross section, so a whole-meat item could be thermally sterilized without significant overprocessing and without the associated degradation in quality. Various other thermal sterilization techniques are being explored, including ohmic and microwave heating.
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From page 81... ...
Army Natick Research Development and Engineering Center, Natick, Mass.
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From page 82... ...
The pad is about one-half the length of the lower tray, which also holds a polymeric bag with the activating solution (Figure 4-4~. Upon pulling the tab, the soldier rips open the bag, the water comes into contact with the pad, a chemical reaction immediately takes place, and heat is generated.
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From page 83... ...
Army Natick Research Development and Engineering Center, Natick, Mass. FIGURE 4-5 Proposed version of the Meal Ready-to-Eat, renamed FieldBreak, in commercial-style packaging for the meal bag and for the individual components, displayed separately.
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From page 84... ...
imply that it would then design decisions would be based on the relatively flat portion of the response surface, the flatness indicating approximately comparable performance. A ration with fewer calories and adequate, but not superfluous, carbohydrates would lead to suitable performance while maintaining the weight and bulk of the ration.
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From page 85... ...
Goal Programming The design of diets that can be used experimentally to determine the performance-nutrient link and, ultimately, to design optimal rations containing the desired nutrients requires the mathematical approach of goal programming (Hintlian, 1990~. For this purpose investigators use LINDO, which stands for Linear Interactive aNd Discrete Optimization.
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From page 86... ...
Since the acceptance of the diet might be compromised by the presence of too maIly similar components from among those being used to establish the menus, the following constraints on meal composition were imposed: at least one entree, no more than two fig bars, at least one cereal bar, and no TABLE 4-1 Illustrative Equation for Minimization of the Objective Function for Obtaining a Diet with Fixed Carbohydrates and Targeted Levels of Fat and Protein within Specified Constraints Objective Function Minimize: + n(fat)
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From page 87... ...
The abbreviations of the food items are replaced in the equation with the weights of those components available for use, and the coefficients represent the percent carbohydrates in each of the components. Illustrative of these abbreviations are the following: crnflk=corn flake bar; beekjy= beefjerky; frchew= fruit chew; and oatsw= strawberry oatmeal bar.
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From page 88... ...
Breakfast Life cereal bar Nut dairy bar Cocoa bar Beverage Lunch Creamed chicken chowder bar Bacon and cheese shortbread Smokecra~c Slim Jim Almond fig bar Beverage Dinner Chicken and rice entree Seafood chowder bar Fried onion shortbread Infused flat bread Almond dairy bar Beverage Snacks A.M.: Cocoa bar Coconut Bear Valley bar Beverage Cheese shortbread Vanilla dairy bar 30 40 30 13 47 2s 46 30 13 70 47 25 so 40 13 30 20 13 25 40 the morning and afternoon) were served.
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From page 89... ...
Totaling 1,500 kcal, it could have an entree such as the dehydrated pork and rice, the MRE pouch bread, a meat stick, two compressed cereal bars, two maltodextrin packets (which would be configured as a bar rather than as the powder shown in Figure 4-9) , and a dairy bar.
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From page 90... ...
, and snack food supplement (SFS) that can be combined, as appropriate, with a core module designed for standard situations.
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From page 91... ...
SUMMARY: THE CHALLENGE As the foregoing indicates, the task for food technologists can be thought of as the performance-nutrient challenge. After the nutritionists and physiologists select the ingredients of greatest potential those that would have a positive effect on performance the food technologist would have to ensure that the related ration components are formulated and processed in a compatible and acceptable manner, that these ingredients can tolerate long-term storage, that they can survive digestion and remain physiologically active, and that they can be delivered in a modulated manner to the targeted physiological sites.
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From page 92... ...
B 1990 Use of math programming techniques to design experimental diets and military rations.
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