U.S. soldiers have been asking for the introduction of pizza to their rations since 1981

Feb 22, 2014 08:28 GMT  ·  By
Food scientists are developing a pizza recipe that makes it good to eat for three years
   Food scientists are developing a pizza recipe that makes it good to eat for three years

Food specialists announce that they are preparing a pizza recipe that doesn’t require refrigeration and remains consumable for several years.

The final product is still in development at U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, in Natick, Massachusetts, but people who have tried it say it’s just like a regular pan pizza.

“It pretty much tastes just like a typical pan pizza that you would make at home and take out of the oven or the toaster oven. The only thing missing from that experience would be it's not hot when you eat it. It's room temperature,” said Jill Bates, who runs the taste lab, according to Daily News.

American soldiers have been asking for the introduction of pizza to their rations since 1981, when lightweight individual field rations, known as meals ready to eat or MREs, replaced canned food.

One of the biggest challenges that food technicians have been faced with so far was the fact that moisture in tomato sauce, cheese and toppings migrated to the dough over time, which made the pizza mushy and resulted in mold and harmful bacteria.

However, their continued research helped them prevent the moisture from migrating with the use of ingredients called humectants.

In order to help the pizza remain edible for three years, the scientists also made some changes to the acidity of the sauce, cheese and dough, and added iron filings to the package to absorb any air remaining in the bag.

“You can basically take the pizza, leave it on the counter, packaged, for three years and it'd still be edible,” said Michelle Richardson, a food scientist at the U.S. military lab.

For soldiers in the battlefield areas, eating pizza could mean a slice of normalcy during the tough days.

Scientists at the Natick labs are also responsible for developing special equipment and clothing for soldiers, capable of increasing their combat effectiveness and survival.