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Hello together,

a few weeks ago I opened a MRE DoP 1987 Menu No. 4 “BEEF SLICES WITH BARBECUE SAUCE” packed by SO-PAK-CO, INC.. The MRE looked liked vacuum-packed (sorry I forgot to take a photo of the closed MRE pouch ), so I estimated worst, and so it was. It seemed that the entrée burst in the MRE pouch and ruins all the other constituents (even the contents of the Acce Pack were damaged ) . I tossed all constituent parts in the trash because their handling and smell was not really appetizing, that’s also the reason for not taking more detailed photos .

Here the contents-list (it doesn´t really match with the “official” list ):

BEEF SLICE WITH BARBECUE SAUCE
CRACKERS
PEANUT BUTTER
COOKIE BAR, CHOCOLATE COVERED
PEACHES
BEVERAGE BASE POWDER ORANGE
ACCESSORY PACKET A
White plastic SPOON

















You can see, it is seldom, but from time to time there are MREs that get worse .

So long mreheater72

R.I.P. Menu #4. Its a sad day when you loose one of the collection that way.

Wow...

Aww... I'm sure it smelled awful, but those peaches looked like they just got it on the outside! A quick scrub and they could have been just fine I betcha. It's a double shame, those and the chocolate brick are basically my favorite mre items of all time

Thanks for the pics in any case before they were tossed. Was the bag puffed out before you opened it?

the MREs that have sauces seem to always go bad in pretty nasty ways. figure the sauces are pretty good breeding material for bacteria, and who knows how the MRE was stored before you got it. even nastier than the 1979 dated MCIs that occasionally went bad when my unit had them circa late '80s.

Hmmm.... that's so sad.

This seems to be a fairly common problem over the course of various rations being issued that contain either Bar-B-Que sauce or tomato sauce based meals. Undoubtedly it is due to the high acidity of the sauce. I have seen my share of MCI's go bad and more often than not it's the "usual suspects" containing tomato sauces or Bar-B-Que. Granted the others will go bad over time as well. I have seen lot's of loaf meat MCI's that clearly had turned into botulism bombs thanks to age and improper storage. But I believe the more acidic the sauce the more caustic it is and thus, the more limited it's shelf life.

I also believe a good cleaning of the other packets might have yielded good results. Afterall, the tri-laminate foil is designed to protect the food against some pretty severe conditions. Putting them through a "decon" process probably would have been fine provided the acidity of the sauce had not eaten through the packaging and compromised the vacuum seal. However, even if the contents of the other packets were still safe the smell of the rotten entre could still permiate the other contents. I remember when we were told you could take "road kill" in an advanced stage of decay and if boiled non-stop with successive water changes, could be consumed provided you held your nose while chewing. You weren't going to like it in any event but you would survive. Otherwise, once you smelled it before eating or exhaled while chewing, your dining experience was over for a while.

Always better to err on the side of caution. Afterall, when in doubt - throw it out!