Feeding Astronauts, Soldiers, and Civilians
Many advances in food processing that ultimately find their way to products on store shelves originate from research on feeding programs for the military and space exploration. Session 213 “Novel processes and food safety for military and space feeding” on Tuesday morning, July 20, at 8:30–10 a.m. in Room S501ab will facilitate the mutual and beneficial exchange of information with national and international industrial, research, and academic organizations. This may enable the formation of partnerships that could give symposium attendees the ability to leverage and accelerate technology development and advance basic research. The symposium also will include presentations on innovative sensors for food safety, food development for future long duration manned exploration space flights, and emerging new food processing technologies.
Andy Senecal, U.S. Army Natick Soldier Res., Development & Engineering Ctr., DoD Combat Feeding Directorate, Food Safety and Defense Team, will discuss strategies for mitigation of foodborne illness in military feeding, including detection systems, risk analysis tools, and elimination strategies. One goal is to provide smaller, lighter, and faster pathogen identification and detection tools for field use.
Michele Perchonok, NASA, will discuss challenges and opportunities for feeding astronauts during long duration missions lasting 2–3 years and the requirements of a shelf-stable food supply with a shelf life of 3–5 years.
C. Patrick Dunne, U.S. Army Natick Soldier Res., Development & Engineering Ctr., DoD Combat Feeding Directorate, will explore emerging food processing technologies—including novel thermal and nonthermal—for dual use for military combat rations and the civilian marketplace.