MRE grafix

ockham · Post by **ockham** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 4:38 pm

Hi All,
New boy Adam here. I can't believe I found a forum dedicated to MREs, I though I was the only one obsessed with these things.
I haven't had a chance to go through all the topics yet but I was wondering if anybody's done any sort of study/archiving on the package artwork on MREs. I recently bought a couple of semi-older ones from a surplus store nearby (a lot of wear on the package but still the newer tan color) and I noticed that the layout of the artwork was different from what's pictured in the main MRE section on this site.
Any ideas?

Post by **kman** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 5:12 pm

Hi ockham (Adam) - welcome to the forums!

I don't know if anyone has done a study or anything like that about the packaging graphics but I know that I personally have a pretty good collection of MREs from all the years so I ought to be able to put something together.

What kinds of differences in the graphics are you talking about? I think it was around 1996 when they started adding the graphics and the tan colored bag. Right now, there seem to be two different patterns that are in circulation. One is what I call the "repeating" pattern that only Ameriqual uses. The other is the standard or official pattern. Here's a sample of them both:

Repeating pattern on the left, standard pattern on the right.

I call it "standard" because that's how the MRE specs call for the bag to be labeled. I don't know how Ameriqual gets away with that repeating pattern but I've seen it used all the way up to 2005.

Here's a link to the "Assemblly Contract Requirements (ACRs)" page that lays out all the specs:

http://www.dscp.dla.mil/subs/support/specs/acrs/mre.htm

and this is the latest one for the 2006 MREs:

http://www.dscp.dla.mil/subs/support/sp ... s/m026.pdf

If you look on page 14, you'll see the graphic specs.

CaptBob · Post by **CaptBob** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 5:52 pm

Hasn't anyone ever noticed this before?

The graphics on the case warn you not to "ROUGH HANDLE WHEN FROZEN" and then, in parentheses, it says "0 degrees Fahrenheit or below".

Well, the last time I checked, freezing temperature is zero degrees Celsius or thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit.

So, has the government made one big scientific faux pas here?

I even looked it up. The document is ACR-M-026 http://www.dscp.dla.mil/subs/support/sp ... s/m026.pdf

Section D-5 "Marking", paragraph A (2) is where you'll find it and, of course, it says the same.

CaptBob
(with obviously nothing better to do at the moment)

Post by **kman** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 7:48 pm

Good catch, CaptBob. I'm thinking that zero degrees Celsius is just the temperature at which water freezes. The MRE components probably have a lower overall freeze point and they must figure that around zero degrees Fahrenheit, they get brittle.

dermeister025 · Post by **dermeister025** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 6:39 am

Yeah, i would think it has more to do with the temperature at which the flexibility and strength of the plastic packaging and such is compromised, rather than the freezing of the food itself. I could just imagine the look on a soldier's face when he opened up the outer bag to find the pouches broken and the food at the bottom of the bag!

CaptBob · Post by **CaptBob** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 2:35 pm

I have three questions pertaining to the markings on the pouches. These should help in dating an item which is unopened.

1. On the old, dark brown MREs, what year did they begin putting the big menu number on the outside of the bag?

2. Does anyone know what year the markings changed from "Southern Packing Company" to "SoPakCo"??

3. What year did the specs for packaging require the "U.S. GOVERNMENT PROPERTY - COMMERCIAL RESALE IS UNLAWFUL" statement?

Thanks!

Post by **kman** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 4:53 pm

Hi CaptBob - I'll try to answer as best I can:

1. On the old, dark brown MREs, what year did they begin putting the big menu number on the outside of the bag?

Non-big number markings (1982)

Big number markings (1993)

This one almost had me stumped - I have some pictures from 1986 showing no big numbers and some pics from 1990 showing the big numbers - but I wasn't sure exactly when they changed. As I was digging through my archives, I ran across a copy of this good Japanese rations site:

History and Data of Military Rations
http://www.jttk.zaq.ne.jp/baboj700/

And this page in particular was helpful:

http://www.jttk.zaq.ne.jp/baboj700/Rati ... story.html
(Click here for English translation)

It says he thinks the big numbers were used starting in 1988 (or maybe after 1988 - can't tell from the translation - I don't know if that word before 1988 means "since" or "after" - it's translated as "from now on").

2. What year the markings changed from "Southern Packing Company" to "SoPakCo"?

Good question - I just don't know about this one.

3. What year was the "commercial resale unlawful" warning added to the cases?

According to the page here: http://www.mreinfo.com/buying-mres.html it was 1997. I'm not sure where I found that year, but I didn't make it up so I must have read it somewhere. The Japanese page above says it was "from now on" 1996. I can't find any case pics from 1996-1997 so I can't say for sure.

CaptBob · Post by **CaptBob** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 6:59 pm

I just found an answer to number two question:

1986 saw several changes. Southern Packaging & Storage Company became SOPAKCO...

from Sopakco's website: http://www.sopakco.com/about_history.html

CaptBob · Post by **CaptBob** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 5:42 pm

NEWS! AmeriQual "Repeating" Graphic Mystery Solved!

Take a look at these two MRE pouches and you'll see they are quite different:

The one on the left is from AmeriQual and sports a different look from the SOPAKCO pouch on the right.

Why? Well, this has puzzled MRE fans for quite a while. Until now.

I posed the question to Stephen M. Moody of the Natick Soldier Center, Combat Feeding Directorate and his explanation makes sense,

"Sopakco and Wornick both used preformed meal bags to assemble their menus. They place the components into a preformed, premarked menu bag and then seal the open end. But Ameriqual (formerly CINPAC) assembles the MRE meals differently. They use a tube of packaging material that is stuffed with components and then has both ends sealed. Because of the starting and stopping of their filling machines, it is more cost effective to have continuous marking on the roll of material so that it won't have to be indexed for each seal."

So, there you have it. Direct from someone at Natick.

That's all from CaptBob, your MRE Investigative Reporter.

Post by **kman** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 9:29 am

Thanks for finally getting to the bottom of that, CaptBob - great work!

But I have to ask...that explanation sounds reasonable...but in my most recent case of MREs from Ameriqual (4/2005), some bags are the regular ones and some are the repeating pattern. What's up with that?

MRE grafix

MRE grafix

What's Freezing YOUR MREs?