Food ration bar

A food ration bar (also known as emergency food bar or compressed food bar)^[1] is a type of biscuit generally included in emergency rations and compact field rations. A cross between a hardtack and an energy bar, these shelf-stable products provide a high caloric density and are generally made of grain flour, sugar, and vegetable oil.

Food ration bars may be consumed directly or broken up and mixed with water for a porridge. The composition depends on usage: humanitarian versions place a focus on protein content and nutrition fortification,^[2] while naval products place the emphasis on it being non-thirst-provoking.^[3]

Some example ration bars are:

• A-28 (rice) and A-29 (wheat), two USDA humanitarian standard products^[4]
• BP-5 Compact Food, fortified humanitarian^[2]
• Datrex, for lifeboat use^[3]
• Type 90, Chinese military ration

Food bar standards are issued by maritime agencies such as the U.S. Coast Guard^[3] and humanitarian agencies such as the World Food Program,^[1] each for their respective use cases.

Food ration bars under the name of 压缩干粮 "compact dry food" are a core part of the military food of the Chinese People's Liberation Army for field and emergency use.^[5]

The experimental Close Combat Assault Ration for the US Army features several food bars,^[6] produced using vacuum microwave drying and a new "sonic agglomeration" technology (a combination of ultrasonic welding and molding)^[7] that removes the need of binding agents.^[8]

• High energy biscuit, a World Food Program standard product for humanitarian use; functionally similar but are proper biscuits in form
• Ninja diet
• butter mochi (Akita style) [ja], a high caloric density food used by Japanese matagi hunters

• 2019 PLA LQ-002 Compact 24 Hour Food, review by Steve1989MREInfo on YouTube – example of Chinese food bars in current use