Sunday, June 3, 2018

The US Army is finally getting combat-ready pizza after years of waiting

The US Army is finally getting pizza for troops in the field after roughly

three decades of requests from soldiers for one of the most popular

foods in America, though toppings will initially be quite limited.

The pizza Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) will be available to soldiers some

time in the next year or so, Army Times reported. It will reportedly be

available in some locations by the end of 2018 and more broadly

distributed in 2019.

The Combat Feeding Directive has been working on the pizza MRE since

2012. Army protocol calls for MREs to have a shelf life of three years

when stored at 80 degrees or below for the food to be a solid option for

troops in the field. For a long time, the pizza MRE kept turning brown

as officials tested it under these standards, and in March 2017 it was

announced its release would be delayed indefinitely until the problem

could be solved.

There were no health or safety concerns regarding the brown pizza, but

there were concerns that it wasn't high quality. In short, the Army

felt the brown pizza wouldn't be very appetizing to soldiers.

"We want to make sure we give [troops] a quality product," David

Accetta, a spokesman for the Combat Feeding Directorate at the

Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, told

But officials ultimately discovered that rosemary extract was the

solution to this problem, and now troops will soon be able to enjoy a

food they've waited years for.

The pizza MRE that's coming to US Army soldiers will include

pepperoni, according to Army Times, but it might be some time before

other toppings are introduced.