ABSTRACT
Foods for both the military and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have a much longer shelf-life requirement when compared to civilian. The shelf-life requirements for most military elded rations are 3 years at 27°C (80°F) or 6 months at 38°C (100°F). For the upcoming mission to Mars, NASA requires shelf-stable menu items with at least a 5-year shelf life (Cooper et al., 2011). When developing long shelf-life foods for military and space feeding, there will always be unremitting requirements to ensure food safety is not compromised, menu monotony does not occur, nutritional intake is not reduced, and performance is not diminished. To meet these requirements, the military has been exploiting lms and coatings for over 70 years. An edible coating is dened as a thin, edible lm that can be deposited onto the surface of a food that can provide protection to extend the shelf life of the coated food by acting as a barrier to moisture, oil, and vapor transmission (Yang, 1994). Films and coatings can be used to develop, optimize, and/or produce foods that are appropriate for military eld feeding. Benets include the following:
1. Extending shelf life by controlling microbial growth
2. Preserving quality by controlling moisture and fat migration
3. Increasing variety
4. Providing nutrient stability and delivery
5. Masking off-avors
6. Controlling release of specialized ingredients
23.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 447 23.1.1 Early Efforts .................................................................................................................... 448 23.1.2 Coatings to Preserve Quality and Increase Variety .........................................................451 23.1.3 Films and Coatings for Moisture or Fat Control ..............................................................451
