Field Sanitation and Food Safety

[rationtin440]

The posting I made about messkits in the MRE section got me thinking, ( lol!) I'm curious what kind of field sanitation and food safety systems, i.e. training, are in place for Bundeswehr, French, and other countries represented in forums. As we know, food-borne illness can do as much damage to a fighting unit as a chemical warfare attack. In WW1 and even WW2 there were many cases of food-borne illness due to such simple things as lack of proper hand-washing and messkit washing, using the same utensils for raw and cooked foods, etc. Thanks for any info.

[fdsman]

The posting I made about messkits in the MRE section got me thinking, ( lol!) I'm curious what kind of field sanitation and food safety systems, i.e. training, are in place for Bundeswehr, French, and other countries represented in forums. As we know, food-borne illness can do as much damage to a fighting unit as a chemical warfare attack. In WW1 and even WW2 there were many cases of food-borne illness due to such simple things as lack of proper hand-washing and messkit washing, using the same utensils for raw and cooked foods, etc. Thanks for any info.

I remember seeing a video on the SADF marines and how most of them use a plastic bag over their dixie mess kits. However this I think is only to separate them from their dessert so they don't have spicy or other flavors mixing in with sweet.

However I don't think any other military does this. I would think boiling of water would be the most common method available, if not maybe there's industrial field dish washers.

[Name_not_found]

Near the bottom of the page has the info you want, including a link to the field manual

http://olive-drab.com/od_soldiers_gear_mess_gear.php

[rationtin440]

Thanks for replies, and that link was pretty cool!