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Source: U.S. Army's Natick Research
Laboratories
Some of the best information available on MRE shelf life is the
storage life chart (see below) compiled by the U.S. Army's Natick
Research Laboratories. This chart provides a good overview and
summary of the findings gathered from their testing of MRE
Products.
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MRE Storage
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Temperature(F°)
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Months of Storage
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120°
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1
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110°
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5
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100°
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22
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90°
|
55
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80°
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76
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70°
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100
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60°
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130
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| Note: Below 60° - not enough data yet
collected, however, projections are the 130 month
storage life will be extended. |
| Note: Time and Temperature have a
cumulative effect. For example, storage at 100° for 11
months then removed to storage at 70° would lose
one-half of the 70° storage life. Also avoid
fluctuating temperatures, in and out of freezing levels.
Due to the cumulative effect of time and temperature, a
regular rotation of MRE's within 5 to 7 years is
recommended. |
More About MRE Shelf Life
1. The shelf life ratings shown in the chart on the front of this
paper were determined by taste panels -panels of
"average" people, mostly office personnel - at the
Natick lab. Their opinions were combined to determine when a
particular component, or in this case the entire MRE ration, was
no longer acceptable.
2. The shelf life determinations were made solely on the basis of
taste, as it was discovered that acceptable nutritional content
and basic product safety would extend way beyond the point where
taste degradation would occur. This means the MRE's would be safe
and give a high degree of food value long after the timing
suggested in the chart.
3. MRE pouches have been tested and redesigned where necessary
according to standards much stricter than for commercial food.
They must be able to stand up to abuse tests such as obstacle
course traversal in field clothing pockets; storage outdoors
anywhere in the world; shipping under extremely rough
circumstances (such as by truck over rocky terrain); 100% survival
of parachute drops; 75% survival from free failure drops; severe
repetitive vibration (1 hour a t G vibration); 7,920 individual
pouch drops from 20 inches; and individual ouches being subject to
a static load of 200 pounds for three minutes.
4. Freezing an MRE retort pouch does not destroy the food inside,
but repeated freezing increases the chance that the stretching and
stressing of the pouch will cause a break on a layer of the
laminated pouch. These pouches are made to withstand 1,000 flexes,
but repetitive freezing does increase the failure rate by a small
fraction of a percent. Also if MRE food is frozen, then thawed
out, it must be used the same as if you had thawed commercial food
from your own freezer at home
5. RationZ uses the very same cutting edge technology to
prepare MREs and ration packs.
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