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SECTION C

This document covers wintergreen tablets packaged in a flexible package for use by the 

Department of Defense as a component of survival rations.

C-1 ITEM DESCRIPTION

PCR-W-002, WINTERGREEN TABLETS, PACKAGED IN A FLEXIBLE 

PACKAGE, SHELF STABLE

C-2 PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS

 A. Product standard. A sample shall be subjected to first article (FA) or product 

demonstration model (PDM) inspection as applicable, in accordance with the tests and 

inspections of Section E of this Performance-based Contract Requirements (PCR) document. 

The approved sample shall serve as the product standard. Should the contractor at any time 

plan to or actually produce the product using different raw material or process methodologies 

from the approved product standard, which result in a product noncomparable to the product 

standard, the contractor shall submit a replacement FA or PDM for approval. In any event, all 

product produced must meet all requirements of this document including product standard 

comparability.

 B. Shelf life. The packaged product shall meet the minimum shelf life requirement of 60

months at 80°F.

 C. Appearance. The finished product shall be 14 individually wrapped intact round tablets.

The unwrapped tablets shall be white with a dull surface. The finished product shall be free 

from foreign materials.

 D. Odor and flavor. The packaged food shall have a sweet, wintergreen odor and flavor. 

The packaged food shall be free from foreign odors and flavors.

E. Texture. The tablets shall be firm, not hard or brittle.

 F. Size. Each unwrapped tablet shall be not less than 0.62 inch or greater than 0.75 inch in 

diameter and not less than 0.19 inch or greater than 0.31 inch thick.
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G. Net weight. The net weight of the unwrapped tablets (one package) shall be not less than 

21 grams and not greater than 28 grams.

 H. Palatability and overall appearance. The finished product shall be equal to or better than 

the approved product standard in palatability and overall appearance.

 I. Analytical requirements.

(1) Moisture. The moisture content shall be not greater than 1.0 percent.

C-3 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

THE FOLLOWING IS INFORMATION ONLY TO PROVIDE THE BENEFIT OF PAST 

GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE. THIS IS NOT A MANDATORY CONTRACT 

REQUIREMENT.

 A. Ingredients and formulation. Ingredients and formulation may be as follows:

 Wintergreen tablets Percent by weight

Sucrose, white granular, direct compacting and 

tableting sugar 

95.80

Maltodextrin 3.00

Magnesium stearate 1.00

Flavoring, wintergreen, natural and artificial 0.20

SECTION D

D-1 PACKAGING

 A. Packaging. 

(1) Tablet packaging material. Each tablet shall be individually wrapped in a 2-ply 

laminated material composed of an external 0.00028 inch aluminum foil layer and a 15 

pound paper food contact layer so that the entire tablet has no external exposure. The 

material shall not transfer any foreign odor or flavor to the tablet. The exterior of the material 

shall be a nonreflective gray or silver color.
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(2) Package material. The tablets shall be unitized in a heat-sealable, laminated 

material, one lamina of which shall be a minimum of 0.00028 inch aluminum foil. The 

exterior laminate shall be uniformly colored and shall conform to number 34082, 34089, 

34098, or 34102 of FED-STD-595, Colors Used in Government Procurement. The laminates 

shall be suitably formulated for food packaging and shall not impart any odor or flavor to the 

product being unitized. The package material shall show no evidence of delamination or

damage (tear or hole).

(3) Package filling and sealing. Fourteen individually wrapped tablets shall be 

assembled in a row along the length dimension of the package material. The package

material shall be folded around the row of tablets and heat sealed along the length dimension. 

The open ends of the package shall be folded in or sealed and folded in to close off the roll 

and contain the tablets.

D-2 LABELING

 A. Package. Each package shall be correctly and legibly labeled. Printing ink shall be 

permanent black ink or other dark contrasting color which is free of carcinogenic elements. 

Pressure-sensitive labels may be used instead of marking directly on the package material. 

Labels shall be of a water-resistant grade of paper or film and coated on one side with 

pressure-sensitive adhesive. The texture of the material shall permit flexibility. Labels shall 

be suitable for printing or writing on with ink without feathering or spreading. The adhesive 

shall be of a pressure-sensitive permanent type, must be suitable for use with food products, 

and shall be free of carcinogenic elements or ingredients. The adhesive shall be waterinsoluble, homogenous, and shall be coated in a smooth layer on one side of the label. The 

adhesive shall require no solvent, heat, or other preparation prior to application. Adhesive 

shall be of a type that will adhere to the package surface under high or low temperatures. 

Dimensions of the label shall not be larger than the dimensions of the surface of the product 

where the label is applied on the package. The label shall contain the following information:

(1) Name and flavor of product (letters not less than 1/16 inch high)

(2) Ingredients

(3) Date 1/ 

(4) Name and address of packer

(5) Optional: "Nutrition Facts" label in accordance with the Nutrition Labeling and 

Education Act (NLEA) and all applicable FDA regulations
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1/ Each package shall have the date of pack noted by using a four digit code beginning with 

the final digit of the current year followed by the three digit Julian day code. For example, 14 

February 2014 would be coded as 4045. The Julian day code shall represent the day the 

product was packaged.

D-3 PACKING

 A. Packing. Not more than 40 pounds of product shall be packed in a fiberboard shipping 

box constructed in accordance with style RSC-L of ASTM D5118/D5118M, Standard 

Practice for Fabrication of Fiberboard Shipping Boxes. The fiberboard shall conform to type 

CF, class D, variety SW, burst grade 200 or ECT grade 32 of ASTM D4727/D4727M, 

Standard Specification for Corrugated and Solid Fiberboard Sheet Stock (Container Grade) 

and Cut Shapes. Each box shall be closed in accordance with ASTM D1974/D1974M, 

Standard Practice for Methods of Closing, Sealing, and Reinforcing Fiberboard Boxes.

D-5 MARKING

 A. Shipping containers. Shipping containers shall be marked in accordance with DLA 

Troop Support Form 3556, Marking Instructions for Boxes, Sacks, and Unit Loads of 

Perishable and Semiperishable Subsistence.

SECTION E INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

The following quality assurance criteria, utilizing ANSI/ASQ Z1.4, Sampling Procedures and 

Tables for Inspection by Attributes, are required. Unless otherwise specified, single sampling 

plans indicated in ANSI/ASQ Z1.4 will be utilized. When required, the manufacturer shall 

provide the Certificate(s) of Conformance to the appropriate inspection activity. 

Certificate(s) of Conformance not provided shall be cause for rejection of the lot.

 A. Definitions.

(1) Critical defect. A critical defect is a defect that judgment and experience indicate 

would result in hazardous or unsafe conditions for individuals using, maintaining, or 

depending on the item; or a defect that judgment and experience indicate is likely to prevent 

the performance of the major end item, i.e., the consumption of the ration.

(2) Major defect. A major defect is a defect, other than critical, that is likely to result 

in failure, or to reduce materially the usability of the unit of product for its intended purpose. 
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(3) Minor defect. A minor defect is a defect that is not likely to reduce materially the 

usability of the unit of product for its intended purpose, or is a departure from established 

standards having little bearing on the effective use or operation of the unit.

 B. Classification of inspections. The inspection requirements specified herein are classified 

as follows:

(1) Product standard inspection. The first article or product demonstration model shall 

be inspected in accordance with the provisions of this document and evaluated for 

appearance, odor, flavor, and texture. Any failure to conform to the performance 

requirements or any appearance or palatability failure shall be cause for rejection of the lot. 

(2) Periodic review evaluation. The approved first article or product demonstration 

model shall be used as the product standard for periodic review evaluations. All food 

components that are inspected by the USDA shall be subject to periodic review sampling and 

evaluation. The USDA shall select sample units during production of contracts and submit 

them to the following address for evaluation:

US Army Research, Development and Engineering Command 

Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center

RDNS-CFF

15 Kansas Street

Natick, MA 01760-5056

One lot shall be randomly selected as specified in the contract. Three (3) sample units shall 

be randomly selected from that one production lot. The three (3) sample units shall be 

shipped to Natick within five (5) working days from the end of the production month from 

which they are randomly selected and upon completion of all USDA inspection 

requirements. The sample units will be evaluated for overall quality against the current first 

article or product demonstration model.

(3) Conformance inspection. Conformance inspection shall include the product 

examinations/tests and methods of inspection cited in this section.

E-5 QUALITY ASSURANCE PROVISIONS (PRODUCT)
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 A. Product examination. The finished product shall be examined for compliance with the 

performance requirements specified in Section C of this Performance-based Contract 

Requirements document utilizing the double sampling plans indicated in ANSI/ASQ Z1.4. 

The lot size shall be expressed in packages. The sample unit shall be the contents of one 

package. The inspection level shall be S-3 and the acceptable quality level (AQL), expressed 

in terms of defects per hundred units, shall be 1.5 for major defects and 4.0 for minor defects. 

Defects and defect classifications are listed in table I. 

TABLE I. Product defects 1/ 2/

Category Defect

Major Minor

Appearance

101 Product not wintergreen tablets.

102 Not 14 tablets or not individually wrapped.

201 Tablets not intact. 3/

202 Tablets not round or not white or not with a dull surface.

Odor and flavor

103 Tablets not a sweet wintergreen odor or flavor.

Texture

203 Tablets not firm or are hard or brittle.

Size

204 Each unwrapped tablet less than 0.62 inch or greater than 0.75 inch in 

diameter or less than 0.19 inch or greater than 0.31 inch thick.

Net weight

205 Net weight of the unwrapped tablets (one package) less than 21 grams 

or greater than 28 grams.
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1/ Presence of any foreign materials such as, but not limited to dirt, insect parts, hair, glass, 

wood, or metal, or any foreign odors or flavors such as, but not limited to burnt, scorched, 

rancid, sour, stale, musty or moldy shall be cause for rejection of the lot.

2/ Finished product not equal to or better than the approved product standard in palatability 

and overall appearance shall be cause for rejection of the lot.

3/ A tablet that is not intact is broken into two or more pieces and shows evidence of 

fracturing horizontally or vertically.

 B. Methods of inspection

(1) Shelf life. The contractor shall provide a Certificate of Conformance that the 

product has a 60 month shelf life when stored at 80°F. Government verification may include 

storage for 4 weeks at 140°F or 60 months at 80°F. Upon completion of either storage period, 

the product will be subjected to a sensory evaluation panel for appearance and palatability 

and must receive an overall score of 5 or higher based on a 9 point quality scale to be 

considered acceptable.

(2) Net weight. The net weight of the filled and sealed package shall be determined 

by weighing each sample unit on a suitable scale tared with a representative empty package. 

Results shall be reported to the nearest 1 gram.

(3) Analytical. The sample to be analyzed shall be a composite of eight filled and 

sealed packages which have been selected at random from the lot. The composite sample 

shall be prepared and analyzed in accordance with the following methods of the Official 

Methods of Analysis (OMA) of AOAC International:

Test Method Number

Moisture 925.45A, 985.14 or 2008.06

Test results shall be reported to the nearest 0.1 percent. Government verification will be 

conducted through actual testing by a Government laboratory. Any result not conforming to 

the analytical requirement shall be cause for rejection of the lot.
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E-6 QUALITY ASSURANCE PROVISIONS (PACKAGING AND PACKING 

MATERIALS)

 A. Packaging.

(1) Package material certification. The package material shall be tested for these 

characteristics. A Certificate of Conformance (CoC) may be accepted as evidence that the 

characteristics conform to the specified requirements.

Characteristic Requirement paragraph Test procedure

Thickness of films for laminated 

material

D-1,A(1)a and D-1,A(2)a ASTM D2103 1/

Aluminum foil thickness D-1,A(1)a and D-1,A(2)a ASTM B479 2/

Laminated material 

identification and construction

D-1,A(1)a and D-1,A(2)a Laboratory evaluation

Color of laminated material D-1,A(1)a and D-1,A(2)a FED-STD-595 3/

1/ Standard Specification for Polyethylene Film and Sheeting

2/ Standard Specification for Annealed Aluminum and Aluminum-Alloy Foil for Flexible 

Barrier, Food Contact, and Other Applications

3/ Colors Used in Government Procurement

(2) Filled and sealed package examination. The filled and sealed packages shall be 

examined for the defects listed in table II. The lot size shall be expressed in packages. The 

sample unit shall be one package. The inspection level shall be S-3 and the AQL, expressed 

in terms of defects per hundred units, shall be 0.65 for major defects and 2.5 for minor 

defects.
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TABLE II. Filled and sealed package defects 1/

Category Defect

Major Minor

101 Tear or hole or open seal.

102 Unclean package. 2/

103 Package has foreign odor.

104 Not packaged as specified.

201 Color of package not as specified.

202 Label missing or incorrect or illegible.

203 Presence of delamination. 3/

1/ Any evidence of rodent or insect infestation shall be cause for rejection of the lot.

2/ Outer packaging shall be free from foreign matter which is unwholesome, has the potential 

to cause package damage (for example, glass, metal filings) or generally detracts from the 

clean appearance of the package. The following examples shall not be classified as defects 

for unclean:

 a. Foreign matter which presents no health hazard or potential package damage and 

which can be readily removed by gently shaking the package or by gently brushing the 

package with a clean dry cloth.

3/ Delamination defect classification:

Major - Delamination of the outer ply in the package seal area that can be propagated 

to expose aluminum foil at the food product edge of the package after manual flexing of the 

delaminated area. To flex, the delaminated area shall be held between the thumb and 

forefinger of each hand with both thumbs and forefingers touching each other. The 

delaminated area shall then be rapidly flexed 10 times by rotating both hands in alternating 

clockwise- counterclockwise directions. Care shall be exercised when flexing delaminated 

areas near the tear notches to avoid tearing the package material. After flexing, the separated 

outer ply shall be grasped between thumb and forefinger and gently lifted toward the food 
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product edge of the seal or if the separated area is too small to be held between thumb and 

forefinger, a number two stylus shall be inserted into the delaminated area and a gentle lifting 

force applied against the outer ply. If separation of the outer ply can be made to extend to the 

product edge of the seal with no discernible resistance to the gentle lifting, the delamination 

shall be classified as a major defect. Additionally, spot delamination of the outer ply in the 

body of the package that is able to be propagated beyond its initial borders is also a major 

defect. To determine if the laminated area is a defect, use the following procedure: Mark the 

outside edges of the delaminated area using a bold permanent marking pen. Open the 

package and remove the contents. Cut the package transversely not closer than 1/4 inch (± 

1/16 inch) from the delaminated area. The package shall be flexed in the area in question 

using the procedure described above. Any propagation of the delaminated area, as evidenced 

by the delaminated area exceeding the limits of the outlined borders, shall be classified as a 

major defect.

Minor - Minor delamination of the outer ply in the package seal area is acceptable 

and shall not be classified as a minor defect unless it extends to within 1/16 inch of the food 

product edge of the seal. All other minor outer ply delamination in the package seal area or 

isolated spots of delamination in the body of the package that do not propagate when flexed 

as described above shall be classified as minor defects.

 B. Packing.

(1) Shipping container and marking examination. The filled and sealed shipping 

containers shall be examined for the defects listed in table III. The lot size shall be expressed 

in shipping containers. The sample unit shall be one shipping container fully packed. The 

inspection level shall be S-3 and the AQL, expressed in terms of defects per hundred units, 

shall be 4.0 for major defects and 10.0 for total defects.

TABLE III. Shipping container and marking defects

Category Defect

Major Minor

101 Marking missing or incorrect or illegible.

102 Inadequate workmanship. 1/

201 More than 40 pounds of product.
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1/ Inadequate workmanship is defined as, but not limited to, incomplete closure of container 

flaps, loose strapping, inadequate stapling, improper taping, or bulged or distorted container.

SECTION J REFERENCE DOCUMENTS

Unless otherwise specified, the applicable version of these documents is that which is active 

on the date of the solicitation or contract.

 DLA Troop Support Form

Form 3556 Marking Instructions for Boxes, Sacks, and Unit Loads of 

Perishable and Semiperishable Subsistence

FEDERAL STANDARD

FED-STD-595 Colors Used in Government Procurement

NON-GOVERNMENTAL STANDARDS

AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR QUALITY (ASQ) www.asq.org

ANSI/ASQ Z1.4 Sampling Procedures and Tables for Inspection by 

Attributes

ASTM INTERNATIONAL www.astm.org

B479 Standard Specification for Annealed Aluminum and 

Aluminum-Alloy Foil for Flexible Barrier, Food Contact, 

and Other Applications

D1974/D1974M Standard Practice for Methods of Closing, Sealing, and 

Reinforcing Fiberboard Boxes

D2103 Standard Specification for Polyethylene Film and Sheeting

D4727/D4727M Standard Specification for Corrugated and Solid Fiberboard 

Sheet Stock (Container Grade) and Cut Shapes
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D5118/D5118M Standard Practice for Fabrication of Fiberboard Shipping 

Boxes 

F88/F88M Standard Test Method for Seal Strength of Flexible Barrier 

Materials

AOAC INTERNATIONAL www.aoac.org

 Official Methods of Analysis (OMA) of the AOAC International