FOOD: Condensed Meat

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Claude Wickard looked, sniffed, tasted, grinned. The Department of Agriculture scientists watched him anxiously. On the plate they had served him were pork and beef croquettes and stew. This was the proof of a pudding three months in the making — an attempt to remove 90% of the water in pork and beef, to cut its weight 70% and its volume 65% for easier shipping to U.S. fighters and allies, and still keep the meat pleasantly edible.

The technicians had tried the condensed meat on rats (who waxed fat on it), then on suspicious tasters at the department's Beltsville Research Center.

But right off the bat Food Boss Wickard called the croquettes excellent, the stew very good, ordered the scientists back to their laboratories to do the same for mutton & lamb.

The technicians had exposed the dehydrated meat to temperatures as high as 110° for four weeks without spoiling it, had inoculated it with deadly organisms: these died or remained dormant. The meat lost some protein value in the drying. In the dehydration, the meat is exposed to great heat, practically precooked, then put into dry air to drive off at least 90% of the moisture. It must be vacuum-packed in tin cans until other packaging can be found. To reconvert the dry, powdery meat, it is soaked in water for an hour, boiled ten minutes, simmered for 10-20 minutes.