Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuff works dot com where smart Happens. Hi, I'm Marshall Brain with today's question, what is an m R E? M R E stands for meal ready to eat and m R E comes in a plastic pouch called retort packaging. The packaging is made of aluminum foil and plastic layer together. An m r E pouch contains normal food. It might contain chili or beef stew. The food is pre cooked, put into
the pouch, and the pouches sealed. The pouch and the food it contains are then heated to sterilize the contents. Since the pouch is sealed, the food stays fresh for a long time, years at a time. This is no different from metal or glass canning. The food in the can is sterilized by heat in a sealed container so bacteria can't get in and spoil it. Think of retort packaging as a flexible can. The food tastes no different from canned earlier beef stew. Retort packaging is also used
for a variety of drinks. The drinks that come into flexible pouch are usually made using the same technology used to create m R E s Do you have any ideas or suggestions for this podcast? If so, please send me an email at podcast at how stuff works dot com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, go to how stuff works dot com