US military cooks up 'add urine and eat' rations

United States food technologists have invented dried rations that a soldier can rehydrate by using dirty water or even his own urine, the British weekly New Scientist reports.

The ration is surrounded by a plastic membrane made of a nanofibre that, according to its inventors, can filter out 99.9 per cent of microbes and the most harmful toxic compounds, allowing only clean water to get to the preserved food.

So far, only one prototype - chicken and rice - has been tested, but the menu will be expanded to incorporate other favourites if the concept proves popular.

The inventors are the Combat Feeding Directorate, part of the US Army Soldier Systems Centre in Natick, Massachusetts.

Two years ago, their men and women came up with an "indestructible sandwich" that could stay fresh for three years.

The goal behind the latest gastronomic breakthrough is to reduce the amount of water that soldiers have to carry around with them, both within the food and for cooking it.

One day's food supply of three meals weights 3.5 kilos per person, but that can be reduced to a mere 400 grams with the dehydrated pouches.

The New Scientist, which reports on the invention in the next issue, quotes experts as saying that rehydrating the food with urine should only be a last resort because the membrane is too coarse to filter out the chemical urea.

In the short term, the body will not find this toxic, but it could inflict kidney damage in the long term.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1159190.htm

This could be useful for those big festivals where you have to queue for hours to use the bog. Drink three pints and *presto* you have a burger and fries.

Drinking piss is nothing compared to the things our soldiers have to do to survive during battle.


Its a good innovation.

So technically, you can convert the piss into water and drink it too?

It is a good innovation alright, because it can be utilised in famine and draught stricken areas (one day anyway) where food and clean water are in short supply and food needs distribution.

I bet this'll attract some new and badly needed recruits (H) (H)

Originally posted by rhizome17
It is a good innovation alright, because it can be utilised in famine and draught stricken areas (one day anyway) where food and clean water are in short supply and food needs distribution.

That's an interesting observation... It's actually pretty amazing what gets invented and used in this world.

I'll bet the dude who ate the piss snow cone in Jackass is lickin' his chops :-puke:

Originally posted by IceBlu
Drinking piss is nothing compared to the things our soldiers have to do to survive during battle.


Its a good innovation.

I'm all for recycling but I'd rather get shot that drink my own pizzle.

You can drink your own piss, it's a survival method the SAS have used for ages. They piss into a jug, somehow let it dry up and only clean drinking water remains in the jug. Not sure exactly how it works but it does work.

"Hmmmmmmmmm.... All the nutrients a man needs! Right up to a good dose of Vitamin P!"

I thought that in the Space Programme they already filtered piss, on the space shuttle, to the point where its purer than water.

Either way at the end of the article it says:

"In the short term, the body will not find this toxic, but it could inflict kidney damage in the long term"

SO SOILDER YOU EITHER DIE TODAY OR YOU DIE TOMORROW ITS YOUR CHOICE

everyone dies eventually...

can't be worse than the crap people already put in their body

That's the last time I tell someone to "Eat ****"

This reminds me of a Jimmy Kimmel joke he did a while: "P. Diddy has a new cologne, it's called P."

Heh.

By allowing any water or water based solution (like piss) to evaporate you can create fresh water by recapturing the water as condensation.

but... Nanofiltration of pee in a food packet... CRAZY!:crazyboy: