Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-02-10
Army Presses Quest for Tasty
Meals in Smaller Packages
Dehydroted and Compressed Food Technique
Being Applied to Box Of Field Rotions
BY CARTER BROOKE JONES.

oeIn9 Applied 10 B
BY CARTER BROOKE JONES.
How to give Americas fighting
men flung across the world the
best food obtainable and yet ship
it through submarine haunted seas
without exhausting cargo space i'm
perative for guns, bombs ano
ammunition is major problem
which the Quartermaster Corps
rapidly is solving.
The answer Is dehydration and
compression, successive processes
which already have been improved
to an amazing degree and are being
perfected.
Newspapermen who were guests
of the ONO general headquarters
on the river front near the Army
War College yesterday afternoon
were shown what is being achieved
10 Pounds Become Is Ounces.
We saw 10 pounds of potatoes au
natural-as they rest on grocery
| shelves. There was a package of
spuds of the same weight which
had been dehydrated. It weighed
| l8 ounces. But the dehydrated
potatoes had not been compressed.
When the same amount was COM
pressed, it was inclosed in q con-
tainer you could have carried in
your pocket. And yet the Army
cook, in Tunisia or Australia, can
add water, according to directions,
and make as tasty a dish as you'd
want.
There were compressed versions
OF cabbages, sweet potatoes, ruta-
bagas, cranberries, orange Juice
yes, and steak and pork and beans.
The ONO has developed contain
ers without metal-avoiding vital
materials-and these wrappings are
almost as important as the conden-
sation. The containers, which are
made of fiberboard and other syn
thetic materials and look like paste
board, must stand up under the
toughest combat conditions. They
must resist extreme heat and fierce
cold, water, sand. what have you.
Exhaustive tests have proved that
they do.
Just Simple Solution"
Col. David H. Cowles, chief of
the military planning division,
insists there's no necromancy
about COMPRISING foods. And Col.
Georges Doriot. who heads the re-
search and development section,
one of the units under Col. Cowles'
wing. added:
Its simply a practical solution
OF the pressing problem of con-
serving space
The reporters were told that
4.500 900 tons Of canned goods, dehy-
drafted, and compressed, could be
reduced to 100000 tons. Eggs, for
instance, are being shipped overseas
in dehydrated, compressed form.
Eggs which would require l1,z
shiploads can be carried in a single
ship. And they are. just as nutri-
tious and palatable.
Did any one doubt the tastiness
OF compressed foods? Col. Doriot
wondered, There were vague muir
murs.
One Of the colonels civilian scien-
tists-and he has some eminent
practite aresipd Row
dered batters they
i1ststed. 's ss's'sF
@ssaIe tasted, and unanimously pro-
nounced 1t excellent, sweet alNtter.
Condensed Bread.
There was type of dehydrated
bread which didn't look very appe-
tizing. but which, we were assured,
contains 2,400 calories a pound. It's
loaves are small-compressed, an
heir to the bareback of not-too-
happy memory. We tasted and
were convinced. It was delicious.
1t reminded you of a homemade
cookie, and it didn't taste stale or
even dry, as you might have bet.
How they produce it is a mystery
of the laboratory which you prob
ably wouldn't understand unless
you were chemist.
There was even compressed ice
cream, in cubes about the size of
loaf sugar. 1t, too, was delectable.
Vinegar, for example, had been
compressed into a small jar. It
would expand many times its size
If only water were added and yet
remain potent.
Charts showed what a small
percentage of solids there are in
vegetables. And yet the laboratory
men have devised ways of extracting
the water and preserving all the
nourishment.
Field Rations Tested.
Today approximately 200 manu-
facturers are making compressed
foods for the Army. Aided by the
best talent in the industrial field,
the best research men the food
preservers could find, the ONO con-
stantly is improving its techniques.
1t has tried out various forms of
contracted field rations, for use when
field kitchens can't be set up. The
latest, still under experiment, but
about ready for production, is a
single, medium-sized box contain
ing days ration for a fighting
man.
In other departments of the
Quartermaster CHG laboratory, the
newsmen saw equipment in which
the corps has met the dilemma of
avoiding the use of critical materials
and yet providing the best clothing
and shelter that can be devised.
Plastics have been substituted for
many purposes. A tough type of
cellophane goes into covering with
which s soldier can protect himself
from spray of liquid gas from a
plane. The gas cannot penetrate
the fragile looking covering.
One of the astonishing sections
Of the headquarters at which Mai
Gen, Clifford l.. Corbin, acting quar-
termaster general, was host, is the