Credit: AP Photo/Steven Senne
DARPA's crazy robots have nothing on this. Ladies and gents, feast your eyes on the U.S. military's latest and greatest creation: pizza that lasts for up to three years without refrigeration.
While there are perks to being in the military, such as playing with prototype weapons and such, the one thing that still sucks is food rations, or MREs (meals ready to eat). I'm no expert, but Wikipedia's detailed breakdown of existing MREs such as this packaged beef teriyaki and meatloaf, suggest they're not palatable. Based on demand from soldiers, the U.S. military has been working hard to make pizza MREs a reality.
According to the Associated Press, military researchers have spent two years engineering a pizza recipe with a shelf life of three years. The biggest challenge appears to be figuring out how to keep the MRE pizza from molding and growing bacteria. The military's scientists solved that issue by using "humectants…sugar, salts and syrups…that bind to water and keep it from getting to the dough" as well as tweaking acidity and adding iron fillings to prevent air and moisture from ruining the pizza dough.
The engineered pizza isn't quite ready for yet for soldiers to eat on the field, but food technologists who have tried early prototypes liken it to pan pizza, only it's room temperature and not hot when eaten. Topping options for the MRE pizza will include pepperoni and turkey pepperoni.
Former Army lieutenant colonel David Acceta believes the military's pizza could boost troop morale as it could remind them of food they'd get back home.
We're still in awe of pizza that could last three years! How awesome would it be to have this in college dorms if it tastes as good as it food technologists claim?
Via Associated Press
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