Business Continuity Disaster Recovery COOP Crisis Management John Glenn MBCI

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July 20, 2006

 

MREs

Meals that can be
hazadous to your health

John Glenn, MBCI
Certified Business Continuity Planner

Revised on 22 July 2009 with additional text.

Hurricane season is upon us along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts (inland, too, of course).

I was at an Association of Contingency Planners (ACP) meeting last week and the sho-n-tel was, basically, how to prepare a gourmet meal on a single-burner butane stove. (I’m sure the fried duck was delicious.)

On display, but unfortunately not discussed, were several Meals, Ready to Eat, a/k/a MREs.

These particular MREs included self-heating units called Flameless Ration Heaters or FRHs.

Rather than watch a professional chef, expert as she is, prepare duck in a skillet, I would have preferred discussing the variety and availability of MREs and, because I’ve done some research on MREs in the past (see "Stockpiling Emergency Rations" in DRJ’s Fall 2003 issue), perhaps to consider the dangers inherent to these products..

The problem with Flameless Ration Heaters (FRH)/Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MREs) is that, under some conditions they cause fires.

The Federal Aviation Authority (FFA) report titled "The Fire Safety Hazard of the Use of Flameless Ration Heaters Onboard Commercial Aircraft"(http://www.fire.tc.faa.gov/pdf/TN06-18.pdf), from which the photo was taken, includes the following:

"Flameless Ration Heaters (FRH)/Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) are well known to pose certain fire, explosion, and health-related safety issues while in shipment where typically hundreds of these meals are packaged together in a single shipping container. They are also considered to be a hazardous material under the United Nations publication "Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods" and in that publication are listed as "dangerous when wet." The 2004 Emergency Response Guidebook published by the United States Department of Transportation covers FRHs under guide 138: "Substances—Water-Reactive (Emitting Flammable Gases)" and lists the potential fire and/or explosion hazards. Some of the hazards listed include:

  • Produces flammable gases on contact with water

  • May ignite on contact with water or moist air

  • Some react vigorously or explosively on contact with water

  • May be ignited by heat, sparks, or flames

  • May reignite after fire is extinguished

"In fact, a major product of the reaction of the salt water and iron-magnesium mixture is hydrogen gas. The release of hydrogen is the primary cause of any fire safety concern surrounding FRHs and has resulted in at least one cargo fire during shipment. In March 2001, a container filled with FRHs was loaded onto a container ship at a naval station in Guam. The ship’s crew detected leaking hydrogen from the container and removed it from the ship. Fire fighters decided to attempt to move the contents and spread them among three separate containers. While performing this operation, the contents burst into flames as can be seen in the photo. (Page 1 of report.)

"Tests were performed with individual MREs in an open environment and multiple MREs in a confined space to examine the potential hazard associated with their use in an aircraft cabin. The tests also examined accidental activation of FRHs in a confined area aboard the aircraft, such as in overhead storage bins or a cargo compartment. Temperatures in excess of 215o F and violent ignition events were observed. It is evident from the tests that the release of hydrogen gas from these MREs is of a sufficient quantity to pose a potential hazard onboard a passenger aircraft." (Page 10)

The FHR MREs seem relatively safe if stored with the same precautions as gasoline or other flammable materials; in other words, a few meals stored in an explosion-proof, damp-proof container away from combustibles.

The trouble is, the folks at the ACP meeting deal not in ones and twos, but in bulk.

One lady is the planner for a hospital group. Can anyone imagine if a stockpile of FRH MREs combusted near an oxygen supply? True, oxygen doesn’t cause fire, but it DOES increase fire. Let me be perfectly clear, as a former U.S. president intoned, I am NOT, in any way, suggesting that this woman would recommend using FRH MREs in any facility, hospital or otherwise.

I think MREs are a great idea, although they are hardly better than the tv meals of a few decades ago.

But I am NOT in favor of FRH MREs; they are just too dangerous.

OK; if I won’t have an FRH MRE in the house, then how am I to heat the meal?

In boiling water.

How do I acquire and heat water?

Any Cracker (Floridian) knows, because we have been told and told again, to stockpile water. (We also stockpile other fluids, but we’d have to be hard pressed before "wasting" them warming MREs.) Most Crackers also know the value of a barbeque (or even a hibachi) and propane or butane-fueled stoves. I have both a barbeque and a single-burner propane stove (with several bottles of propane) sitting in the garage. I can take from my water supply and fill up a pan, put the pan over heat and, once hot, immerse non-FHR MREs into the water. I suspect, although I have not investigated it, that the MREs are thoroughly pre-cooked and edible without heating them. I confess to enjoying cold pizza and cold spaghetti.

According to Mary Ann of My Own Meals

    "All meals are fully cooked and usually are heated for better taste. We taste test the meals at room temperature for every day's production mostly because it takes too long to heat up so many individual meals, open them, inspect them and then taste them before shipping out. So, yes, you can eat them, but they will taste better hot. We have heated them in hot water in hotel sinks before as well."

    She also noted that the boxes only contain the meals; flatware and napkins are not included.

If I had a generator and if I could connect a microwave, I could “nuke” the MRE. But I don’t have a generator and this exercise "assumes" a lack of electricity (else why bother with MREs anyway?)

One of the things I discovered back in 2003 was that there are MREs (with and without self-heating units) that are made for special diets.

There are at least two companies that manufacture gluten/casine-free products: Alpine Air Foods and My Own Meals.

Likewise, there are at least two companies that manufacture meals with a kosher label: La Briute and My Own Meals. La Briute meals include a flameless heating unit (FHU).

My Own Meals also produces lactose-free, MSG-free, soy-free, and vegan meals; all My Own Meals products carry a kosher label.

What's the big deal about a kosher label? For people who are on a <something> free diet, a product claiming to be <something> free must be free of that <something>. For example, Carnation's non-dairy creamer contains a dairy product - enough to ruin a lactose-intolerant person's day - or several. A kosher label without a "D" or "Dairy" designation indicates that the product really IS non-dairy; if the label has the word "Parve" or "stam" it also is free of animal products.
A sampling of kosher lables is available at http://www.hanefesh.com/edu/kosher_Food_Symbols.htm

Processors and suppliers offering specialty long-shelf life/MREs found on the Internet include:

(M=Manufacturer; S=Supplier)

I tried one of the MREs; I won’t recommend it for a candle-lit dinner. But I have not tried them all from the same source and certainly not all the meals from all the sources.

Great things, MREs, and not just for hurricanes. They certainly beat crackers and peanut butter or tuna fish and canned corn (all of these are very tasty when there is nothing else).

Other things to have handy:

  • Manual can opener

  • Car charger for cell phone

  • Candles and lanterns

  • Reading material

  • Plastic, single-use utinsils

  • Patience

 

 

John Glenn, MBCI, has been helping organizations of all types avoid or mitigate risks to their operations since 1994. Comments about this article, or others at http://JohnGlennMBCI.com/ may be sent to Planner @ JohnGlennMBCI. com.

 

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© 2009, John Glenn MBCI