When provided as a morale boost or care package, military chocolate is often no different from normal store-bought bars in taste and composition.

The World War II K ration issued in temperate climates sometimes included a bar of Hershey's commercial-formula sweet chocolate.

Withstanding high temperatures was critical since infantrymen would often be outdoors, sometimes in tropical or desert conditions, with the bars located close to their bodies.

Army Quartermaster Colonel Paul Logan approached Hershey's Chocolate in April 1937, and met with William Murrie, the company president, and Sam Hinkle, the chief chemist.

Colonel Logan had four requirements for the D ration bar, dictating that it had to: Its ingredients were chocolate,[2] sugar, oatmeal, cacao fat, skim milk powder, and artificial flavoring, fortified with vitamin B1 to prevent beriberi.

Three bars made up a daily ration and was intended to furnish the individual combat soldier with the 1,800 calories (7,500 kJ) minimum sustenance recommended each day.

After U.S. entry into the Second World War, Congress planned to shut down the candy industry for the duration of the conflict, deeming it non-essential.

Milton Hershey, fighting off attempts to ration sugar, corn syrup, and cocoa, claimed to Congress that chocolate was a vital source of nutrition for the nation's troops.

[7] In 1943, the Procurement Division of the Army approached Hershey about producing a confectionery-style chocolate bar with improved flavor[8] that would still withstand extreme heat[9][10] for issue in the Pacific Theater.

[citation needed] Instead, the bar was either discarded or traded to unsuspecting Allied troops or civilians for more appetizing foods or goods.

By the end of World War II, the entire Hershey plant was producing ration bars at a rate of 24 million a week.

For their service throughout World War II, the Hershey Chocolate Company was issued the Army-Navy ‘E’ Award for Excellence for exceeding expectations for quality and quantity in the production of the D ration and the Tropical Bar.

In tandem with this state-sponsored rhetoric, radio advertisements for foodstuffs and other consumer goods employed wartime slogans to reinforce military campaigns against Germany and Japan.

[citation needed] In the late 1980s, the US Army's Natick Labs created a new high-temperature chocolate (dubbed the "Congo Bar" by researchers) that could withstand heat in excess of 140 °F (60 °C), using egg whites, giving it a fudge-like texture.