Printer Friendly“Engineering” Food for Extreme Situations
Presented by: Ann Barrett, PhD, Senior Chemical/Food Engineer, US Army Natick Soldier R,D, & E Center
Workshop Description
I will provide an overview of Natick Labs and what we do for the Soldiers. I will also bring different kinds of ration components for the students to “taste test.”
The workshop will also include team solution of a problem. The problem will involve redesigning a food product to conform to necessary constraints, and given the properties of the components that are to be assembled into it. The workshop participants will be separated into groups of three, and each group will work independently to analyze the problem and perform (simple) calculations to achieve the reformulation. The groups will be given a chance at the end of the workshop to show their results.
Leader’s Job Description
I am a Food Engineer in the Combat Feeding Directorate of the Natick Soldier R,D&E Center. Natick Labs is responsible for designing and developing all support items/services—including food, clothing, shelters, parachutes, protection—for the U.S. military. In short, we help provide everything our troops require, other than their weaponry. Our troops are deployed world-wide in every climate and field situation and must be provided for in every potential environment. This variety in scenario means that soldiers will need rations for arctic to tropical climates and also for situations ranging from settled “dining hall” eating to actual battlefield sustainment.
The foods that we provide our troops need to fulfill many objectives. For example, I am part of the Performance Enhancement and Food Safety Team, which has as an objective developing rations that will provide enhanced capabilities for the Soldiers. We have worked on energy-boosting foods (i.e., high-carbohydrate, caffeinated, etc.) and also on making our ration components more portable (i.e., lighter weight and more easily carried—or “mobility enhancing” in military-speak). An additional constraint we have is that all Army foods have to be shelf-stable for three years, so they are all carefully formulated and packaged to be safe and still-high-quality for that time period.
What the engineers and scientists in the Combat Feeding Directorate spend their time doing includes laboratory work—i.e., actually making ration prototypes and assessing the effects of formulation and processing (what you put into the food and what you do to the food) on product quality. We test the prototypes throughout storage to make sure that their quality is maintained. Eventually, new items are “field tested” with actual troops before they become part of the military feeding system.
Advice for Career Path
For a career in Food Engineering or Food Science, students should concentrate on mathematics and science classes, particularly chemistry—since you will be considering the food as a “material” that reacts and changes properties—and math—since you will need to describe, quantitatively, exactly what is in the food and how the food changes with processing. Communication skills—being able to speak and write clearly—are also vital.
My experience was that: I was a Chemistry and English double major in college; earned a Master’s Degree in Food Engineering immediately after college; worked for two years in industry and then started with the Army; returned for a PhD in Food Engineering (actually, was sent, via an Army Fellowship); and came back to Natick Labs, where I have been working since.