Show what army eats chow nowadays GI meals must be tasty and nourishing quartermaster corps tests insure purity and palatability by AL JEDLICKA all He released leased ld lo 10 bv allt colern union wherever johnny doughboy m may a y be fighting today nutritional he hes eating his fill of good nutritional food whether its in the e south pacific if ic europe or the mediterranean hes finding his fare palatable and strengthening maybe not quite into like mas home cook mg ing but just what a fighting man needs to make him fig fight lit hard if johnny doughboy is eating well it s no accident rather it is the result of c careful leaful scientific study of the quartermaster corps luksis tonce tence research and development lab oratory in chicago which is chiefly contributing to the army a conquest of food problems arising from oil dif ferent climatic and storage conditions t throughout h hout the world the there r e was a time when the army vasa v asa t so exacting about food when fares w were ere plain and repetitious no farther back than world war I 1 vets larther ost lost much of their enthusiasm for orned beef and salmon because of their constant serving but thanks to the sympathetic understand understanding ang of co cal W A point who he appreciated ad the value of a nutritional as well as a unity tasty fare for troops the army instituted a subsistence school in 1920 which spawned the research laboratory in 1936 when the laboratory was opened that year there were no indications that the U S would find itself in m a worldwide world wide struggle five years let later r in jungles mountains ds des erts and snowy steppes but when that day did come the laboratory Z A MAJOR on the quartermaster corps rp laboratory staff places sat T fund foods such as 11 navy illy be beans it bacon a raisins raisin a VI plum am jam am and butter in m a six special ecial testing box that can simulate either arctic cold or tr tropic P I 1 heat was ready to undertake the vast task of adjusting the american soldiers food to the different embattled regin regions a no ae less as than 31 army 0 officers T cers and 31 51 civil civilians iao or are c at war work it m the research ach laboratory cher chemists mats bacate ran logiste and vitamin asp experts arts working in approximately approximate a half dozen lif different ferent fields under direction of col cal rohland A isker in addition there are an experimental kitchen for car testing preparations and a dining room where help is served new food and okd to comment on its ability in the absence of if call colonel al 11 isker 1 a who was on a mission million to in europe dr jesse H white was in charge at af the laboratory and it was he who escorted ted this western newspaper union correspondent through the irrea raes A retired army colonel who re turned to duty at the research labor atory without assuming his old mih sty ary rank when the war a pressing events forced a need for trained men dr white has been associated with the quartermaster corps since 1907 and always in the forefront at A the drive for progressive procedure originally a meat inspector for the navy dr de white first undertook took the stud of canned a d fruits vegetables and other items item for far the arm army y and participated in colonel points point s special a subsistence sis terace schools school Bo Bone neles lehs beef although dr white has been in on the whole gradual development of the army a scientific food program meat still remains remain his first latest interest and to him must go the credit for he acceptance nee of bobele boneless beef it was on only y after dr white a insistence si late nee I 1 that h at the he army experiment experience 1 ed I with boneless bone 1 ess beef during th the a mansu maneuvers vers a of 1936 eliminating the poi poor r and expensive cuts and wastes in the ra carcass in 1940 the army went want still stil urther further with boneless beef VARIOUS chemical and ph physical tests of food so samples crop a are a conducted do etc it constantly in the Q ter sacr cc corps arps la laboratories borato t to do determine to ran i a the their bah stability iah ty under ad it differing as rn cli matic at liotis conditions t as and a other t her influences that aou would dall affect e at the their i r wh whole a sameness so under dr white a leadership mil utilizing the entire erras carcass for far roasts ats stews and sausages though the conservation of space was a factor then it did not assume the tremendous importance it did with the outbreak of world war il II when the long iong supply lines imes imposed a severe sever e strain axx on n our transport system t can As a result of dr W white s sharp h rp ness the army achieved achieve d tedfil additional t 1 conservation a of I 1 space p through his suggestion fox for cutting t g pork loins in two and fitting one end in the slope of the other thus forming a single P package of half the former size As a f fruition of the eff effort art to provide a variety of f food to troops three times as many meat items have been developed under the direction of the research laboratory than han existed during the last war before the war packers professed difficulty coming canning pork luncheon meat in large containers but c careful it re research overcame the problem formerly the lard to in pork park sausage a had oozed from the meat and collected around the walls of the can but this was also corrected heading off the inevitability of complaints from a continuous serving of vienna sausages a coarsely ground finely spiced frankfurter was de developed eloped for variety with wah the exter extension anat of the fighting to the tropical climates preserve pre pro serva no tion n of fats and oils have presented a difficult problem but under t the h direction of the research laboratory remedies have been developed army spread mo most t noteworthy of these developments development perhaps is the so called army arang spread a combination of b butter dur ater cheese curd and milk paw powder it was produced following a search for a palatable fat to replace th the a old aid carter r spread comp composed ed of butter abutter and h d rogena ted cotton seed flakes which tasted asted t and stuck to the roof of the mouth although funish army spread has filled the bill i for or an appetizing rag fat it is of no use as a shor shortening g or in frying due to scientific methods in the P preservation reser tion of lard and other short edings v troops afield now profit from the availability of high caloric biscuits the celebrated hardtack of old was nothing more than flour water and a salt a I 1 since no stable shortening had been discovered but through g it the use of antioxidants fats and notably lard have been so treated that they would stay fresh and usable from six am to nine mue months working in conjunction with processors the dairy products section of the research laboratory under robert J has developed an evaporated milk with a concentration of 3 1 surpassing th old figure of 2 1 of value to the th army in n the economy of space the th new product should prove of equal advantage to women shoppers in the postwar world advancements also have been made in the production of ach y drat oil ed cheese previously sold inmar ily to bakers for fillers spraying etc the cheese retains its essential flavor lieutenant barnsley a department a also Is has b been cent active in the preparation of vanilla ice cream mixes shipped in the form farm a of dried powder w elrd to the various fronts where at fruits fruit or at other flavoring ff agents may be added sea water forb for baking ach technologists in the r research lab orator oratory y a baking department are en in various experiments on cereals and at other h er components of breadstuffs bread stuffs one experiment eon con earned corned the use of sea or ocean water in the production of bread since there are many military baking installations sta stal 1 actions lations in the various war the thea where fresh water is limited im led J after aft er careful experimentation with ocean a n wat water at provided from the country s eastern and western coasts it was discovered that the variation in salt content of ocean water was not sufficient to require any change in the regu regular I 1 or army bread formula other ther that than the omission of salt prior to the experimentation however th the 1 ocean water was waa treated with ca calcium 1 r ite on the basis of 0 5 grams crams to 31 gallons ot of the water against possible content of algae sea weed etc proceeding on the principle that flour ris is the most important and th t the a one fanu a indispensable rumble ingredient to the P production d fit of baked products the quartermaster to at aster corps tests samples fr from each car offered before acceptance cep epta tance nee made fr from either h hard ard spring or winter wheat the flour mu must at produce bread with good vol ume e gram grain and texture creamy white crumb color and pleasing flavor and taste according to technologist paul V holton containing about 12 per cent protein and one half per cent minerals or ash the army flour is enriched with thiamin vitamin bl riboflavin vitamin ba at niacin in and rul ran iron one of th the an outstanding develop ments was the production a of a granular r dehydrated yeast for use overseas because it will keep well for a year yar if under refrigeration of 40 50 d degrees g rees F an and d sh show w no appreciable I 1 loss a to in b baking aluag strength if stored at 70 degrees or below for six months if it kept t a at t higher temperatures however I 1 the h e yeast quickly loses its quality y other factors favoring granular it oter a r d dehydrated city d rated yeast which is manufactured in pellets and packed in t two vai irand pound urs size moisture main proof caria cans are I 1 its u a quick action during baking an and d as its greater leavening power per unit of weight canned came d ratum rations to meet the needs of our soldiers under the varying conditions of war rations have been developed for instance when establishing a beachhead there is no time for the preparation of a mea meal I 1 the I 1 K ration which may be eaten cold is on de a signed for such an estagen exigency licy the C ration is intended for later ater E use when the beachhead is established and the tension is not quite so great the C ration which may be eaten cold but may be made more palatable by heating the canned components requires a minimum of preparation for scout troops or just backof back of f thelme the eating the I 1 10 aon in I 1 ration is preferable the D ration a high calorie chocolate bar is carried by the a soldier to be used only in an emergency y each of these rations ration has been developed only after r sith the most careful research they in must u b be nutritionally adequate of excellent it keeping eating quality at least six months month under varying conditions of cj climate easy to carry and ad palatable one of the research labora torys biggest tasks was in the improvisation of packing to suit the various climatic conditions encountered in early south pacific fighting many different types of packages de deteriorated terin on ake the tropical beaches urn un der the elements of rain and heat through careful research hower however various protective coatings and waterproofing materials such as w waxes axes were developed not only to guard against exposure on the beaches but also Is to enable many of th the e packages to be floated boated ashore to in facilitate I 1 lusts unloading loading operations the laboratory has a cooperative project jact called the guinea games pig club of which every employee as a we well as every officer in the laboratory is a 0 I 1 4 P lin 4 THE THE rood FOOD on max maj W E harpers at a plate is equivalent in bulk to the condensed h rat ration n which is contained in the atto little a packages spread on the stable table member at or noon samples of plo proposed posed ration items are served the tasters or are instructed in the case of two x items I 1 ras t to c choose h a the one which they prefer if only one item i is under der test the a taster is requests requested re lun to tell whether he likes the item or n not at and why figures are tabulated stat statis tiC dlly and the popularity of an it item may thus scientifically be oata obtained |