MRE fruits and veggies to get major upgrade with new technology

One of the challenges of providing packaged food that has an adequate shelf life and enough nutrients to keep troops nourished has long been a challenge for the U.S. military.

As such, the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Soldier Center’s Combat Feeding Division in Natick, Massachusetts, has turned to advanced technology to address both issues.

In particular, the division is working now to drastically improve the quality of fruits and vegetables in the Meals Ready-to-Eat, more commonly referred to as MREs.

The division has set its sights on a new technique called “vacuum microwave drying” to turn the produce contained in MREs into crunchy snacks rather than vacuum-sealed preservatives.