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One of the MREs from a circa 1992 cases I recently purchased had an MRE that really stood out. I noticed it was vacuum sealed compared to the rest. I wondered if maybe that would've helped some of the components last longer, so I had high hopes for this one. Let's take a look.
Looks pretty intriguing, right? Let's open it up!
Oh no, please don't be true. This one wasn't compromised was it? Well, hopefully it just applesauce or something.
No. No, it wasn't. A smell, not much unlike a moldy dishrag was coming from the MRE. I quickly took everything outside because it was becoming pretty unbearable. I must warn you, some of the next images may not be for the faint of heart. If you're eating something I'd like to politely suggest that you revisit this post later.

It's too late to turn back now, let's keep exploring.
I don't profess to know exactly what happened or when it happened. Was it actually vacuum sealed in the factory and then subsequently bursted open shortly thereafter? Or is this something that took time? I really don't know but I'd hazard a guess that someone, possibly an intern over at Sopacko decided to vacuum seal this MRE and it probably opened itself up as soon as it was packed. Your wild speculation is also welcomed and encouraged.

I decided to toss most of everything out, including the crackers, peanut butter, cocoa and beverage base. I hated to do that but I didn't want to take any further chances. I had to open up the accessory packet and see how that held up. Oh, and the FD fruit as well. A sane person in good conscience wouldn't blindly throw an FD fruit away.
Well then, I guess they weren't kidding around when they made those accessory packets. Believe it or not, everything in it was still good including the caramels. And the FD fruit was fine as well! I did make sure to scrub the outside of the packages with warm water and soap, just to be safe.
The coffee wasn't dry molded. So for breakfast, I had FD fruit, coffee, caramels and gum. I hope you all had a more exciting breakfast than I did. Happy Sunday!

At least you salvaged a few good bits

What a daring review! I commend you for saving the FD fruit and Acc packet. Bravo!

sorry to say it was not vacum packed from factory,the germs have eaten al the oxygen inside and made the vacum look.
have seen this a few times in my life even back in the 1980s.

Cheers ken

That's actually pretty interesting to hear. If my knowledge of biology weren't lacking considerably I might have thought of the same thing. If I ever encounter another "vacuum sealed" MRE, I will make sure to stay away from it or leave it sealed.

I got to critically analyzing my original theory and I've come to realize that the idea of the MRE being vacuum sealed doesn't make a whole lot of sense. First, if they had a vacuum sealer in the MRE factories, wouldn't they be using it more often? I can't think of a single MRE item that is vacuum sealed. Secondly, it would be nice if they used one. I don't know if it's been tested or not but assuming it works, I think it would save a lot of weight and room in your pack just by removing that excess air. Even if you field strip them, I think having the components individually vacuum sealed would still help.

EDIT: While I was in the process of doing more research on the matter, I found this post from 2007. It's amazing what one can find on this forum.

SentientTootsieRoll wrote:That's actually pretty interesting to hear. If my knowledge of biology weren't lacking considerably I might have thought of the same thing. If I ever encounter another "vacuum sealed" MRE, I will make sure to stay away from it or leave it sealed.

I got to critically analyzing my original theory and I've come to realize that the idea of the MRE being vacuum sealed doesn't make a whole lot of sense. First, if they had a vacuum sealer in the MRE factories, wouldn't they be using it more often? I can't think of a single MRE item that is vacuum sealed. Secondly, it would be nice if they used one. I don't know if it's been tested or not but assuming it works, I think it would save a lot of weight and room in your pack just by removing that excess air. Even if you field strip them, I think having the components individually vacuum sealed would still help.

EDIT: While I was in the process of doing more research on the matter, I found this post from 2007. It's amazing what one can find on this forum.

As a sciencey-type guy I am finding this very fascinating but I'm afraid I am not a biologist and don't have much of a guess at what is going on here.

I will add that the assumption is that the meal contents bursting is leading to the vacuum of the outer bag. I propose that it may be possible that the opposite may be true. Whatever is causing the vacuum of the bag may be causing the pouch to burst just from air pressure on the contents around the retort pouch on the exterior of the bag. If it is pulling a full vacuum inside, that is potentially 14.7lbs/in of force. Even if this is the case, which I don't know, it still would not explain what caused the original vacuum condition of the bag. Maybe one of the brown bag manufacturers has a plant on the top of Everest and it was packaged on a really hot day.