MREInfo.com

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.

rationtin440 wrote: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.

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

Thanks for replies, and that link was pretty cool!