1. Introduction
Most of the U.S. military operational rations consist of shelf-stable food items. The united group ration-A (UGR-A) is the only U.S. army ration that consists of perishable food items, which requires cold chain storage (Natick PAM 30–25, 2012). These rations are manufactured in the U.S. by different vendors and are frozen before shipping to army bases in various countries. According to the Combat Rations Network for Technology Implementation (The United States Department of Defense), cold chain transportation of these frozen army rations, via road and via sea, can take anywhere between 3 and 5 months.