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Food for emergencies, such as pandemics or natural disasters, arrives in our country, for the first time, in December. This is emergency food, as the Americans call it. In the United States these products are widely known as extreme weather conditions require citizens, especially in remote areas, to be well prepared. In fact, for the moment, the main suppliers on the world market do not stop producing once their stocks are exhausted.
What is survival food?
“It is a huge food industry that thrives mainly in the United States. There are two or three companies in Europe and these are products that refer to survival in very difficult conditions,” says the commercial representative of one of the largest German companies in the sector. , George Theodorou, to the Athens News Agency. “They are specially processed foods whose main characteristic is that they are easily stored under normal conditions and mainly have a very long shelf life. That is, some of them expire 25 years later” adds the importer who has been active in the men’s clothing business for the last thirty-five years.
“During the quarantine period, due to the situation, the idea occurred to me. In Greece there is a plethora of agricultural products that most households have access to and the supply chain generally works well. However, we see that after all this, his logic enters the culture of Greek: I take my measurements ”, describes Mr. Theodorou in APE-MPE.
In Europe, the companies that produce this type of food are based in Germany and England, while Switzerland is mainly engaged in maintaining water supplies for sale, in case of emergency.
Why should you have access to these products?
“It’s like you have to have health insurance, pension contributions or a fire extinguisher,” the German food company said on its website.
“Many people think they don’t need health insurance when they’re healthy, they don’t need a retirement plan when they’re young, and they don’t need a fire suppression system when there’s no fire. “If you’ve never had a fire in your own home, you may not know how important it is to have a fire detector or the simplest fire suppression system.”
On the website of the German Federal Office for Civil Protection (BBK), there are recommendations for households to have enough food for at least two weeks and, in particular, products that can be kept out of the fridge.
Large areas of Europe have been affected by power outages in recent years. The result was that the ovens could not work, many products that were in maintenance went bad and the supermarkets had sold what they had on the shelves in 48 hours.
Worsening weather, strikes and power outages are some of the everyday reasons that can restrict anyone’s access to the supply chain. Floods in the Frankfurt region in June 2013 isolated entire areas and affected thousands of people. The same happened in Austria and the Czech Republic.
A year ago, the Swedish Emergency Policy Agency (MSB) sent informational brochures to citizens to prepare for crises such as fires, storms, cyberattacks and military conflicts.
In a survey that followed, 63% said the information made them think more about how to handle such a social crisis. Young people between the ages of 18 and 34 and citizens over 65 were the two categories that had begun to think more about that possibility.
“It is good to see that the brochure has made such an impression on so many people and especially young people,” said Dan Eliasson, director general of the Swedish Emergency Policy Agency.
These practices by the competent services and of course the Covid-19 pandemic make emergency food companies constantly produce and pay close attention to product quality. The quality of the raw materials, the processing and preparation of the food, as well as the packaging material, determine whether the product will last two, five, ten, fifteen or twenty-five years.
Canned foods are divided into categories. Their classification in each category depends on the temperature and duration of pasteurization. The higher the temperature and the longer the duration, the more microorganisms and bacteria die. The death rate is recorded in F-Value, a unit of measure for pasteurization. The higher the F value, the longer the product can be kept intact.
The cans that we buy in the supermarket are always totally or partially preserved. The manufacturers of these products suggest that the food be consumed within six to twenty-four months, since the F-value is usually low. As the F-value increases, so does the cost of production, as it requires more time and more energy.
The products are safe to consume and much later than the expiration date, emergency food manufacturers say. The date mentioned on the package is not an indication that the food will spoil, but primarily it defines the point at which it will not have lost its quality and flavor.
A July 2002 report from the German world, according to which an 84-year-old man found a box of twenty World War II bread cans in his garage, indicates the ancient practice of storing emergency food. The competent food control authority of the city of Siegen examined the bread and described it as “still edible”.
Modern technologies now allow meals tailored to everyone’s preferences. The companies offer everything from take-out breakfasts with cookies and pancakes, to spaghetti with minced meat, and packages for vegetarians and vegans. According to the manufacturers, the servings include all the calories and vitamins that a person needs based on their weight. The price of the package for an adult, with all meals of the week (breakfast, lunch, dinner) is 150 euros. Packages vary and have been tailored to the needs of each family.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
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