K-ration

[1] It was originally intended as an individually packaged daily ration for issue to airborne troops, tank crews, motorcycle couriers, and other mobile forces for short durations.

[3] In 1941, Ancel Keys, a University of Minnesota physiologist, was assigned by the U.S. War Department to design a non-perishable, ready-to-eat meal that could fit in a soldier's pocket as a short-duration, individual ration.

The actual prototype of the K-ration was a pocket ration for paratroopers developed by the Subsistence Research Laboratory (SRL) at the request of the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) early in the war.

[8] Marching was done not through jungle, as might be expected, but only on flat or gently rolling terrain on cleared roads, for an average of only 11 miles (18 km) per day.

[8] The test platoons carried one K-ration, weapon, poncho, shelter half, and a single filled one-quart canteen.

One major criticism of the K-ration was its caloric and vitamin content, judged as inadequate based on evaluations made during and after World War II of the ration's actual use by Army forces.

[12] While fighting in the European Theater of Operations, the US Army discovered that troops also quickly got tired of the K-ration, some being forced to eat it for days, or rarely, in excess of a week on end.

[8] An extensive 1943 field report from the European theater noted that none of the packaged rations were recommended for continued use by active troops for periods in excess of 10 days.

Surgeons commented upon a noticeable decrease in body fat and wasting of muscle, requiring copious feeding and rest, as well as ascorbic acid (Vitamin C).

Many soldiers, including the U.S. unit known as Merrill's Marauders[8] and British Chindit forces in Burma, had for five months lived primarily[15] on K-rations, supplemented by rice, tea, sugar, jam, bread, and canned meat rations, which were dropped to them by air.

In the case of the Marauders, whose diet consisted of 80% K-rations, severe weight loss (an average of 35 pounds or 16 kilograms per man) and vitamin deficiency were noted, which may have also contributed to a decline in resistance to various tropical diseases.

One of British General Orde Wingate's units in the Dehra Dun area was visited by quartermaster logistics officers some months after they had last eaten K-rations.

[16] The unpalatable nature of some of the K-ration's components, such as the fatty pork loaf or the highly acidic lemon powder,[17] caused many users to throw them away, further reducing actual consumed calorific content.

Often, a secondary food source was issued, such as a D-ration bar, or fresh oranges, in an attempt to bring up the calorie and vitamin content.

Late production meals added a paper-wrapped paddle-like disposable wooden spoon and used the standard P-38 can opener instead of the "twist key".