Indian Army food standards came under a detailed review at the 142nd meeting of the Technical Standardisation Committee (TSC) on Foodstuffs, held under the aegis of the Quarter Master General's Branch to revise the Defence Food Specifications (DFS) that decide what reaches a soldier's plate.

The committee took up 276 agenda points covering 168 Defence Food Specifications and 91 quality control parameters, according to the Army.

Lieutenant General Prashant Srivastava, Quarter Master General, delivered the keynote address. Officers of the Defence Services sat with senior scientists and domain experts from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), AGMARK, the Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), the National Co-operative Dairy Federation of India (NCDFI), TRA and the Defence Institute of Bio-defence Technologies (DIBT), the DRDO laboratory in Mysuru that works on military nutrition and food safety.

Indian Army food standards weighed against air-drops and man-pack loads

Army rations face conditions that few shop-shelf products are built for. Particular emphasis was placed on food that stays fit for use across very different climates and survives demanding transport, handling and storage, including air-dropping and man-pack carriage, the Army said.

Food technology, preservation, packaging, nutritional value, taste and shelf life were all on the agenda.

Bharat Rice, Agniveer rations and survival rations listed as recent steps

Lieutenant General Mukesh Chadha, Director General of Supplies and Transport (DGST), set out the measures taken in recent years to raise food standards and the quality of rations supplied to troops.

He listed three. The first is the introduction of Bharat Rice, which was formally launched for the defence forces in New Delhi on Monday, milled to defence specifications and delivered directly to Army Supply Depots. The second is additional rations for Agniveer recruits. The third is survival rations designed for personnel deployed in operational conditions and difficult environments.

Organic food items to get their own specifications

The DGST is also running field trials of modern technologies related to food, sustenance and ration quality. The aim is to identify and adopt methods that improve the preservation, storage and management of essential food items, particularly in climatically challenging and hard-to-reach areas.

Organic food items are envisaged for troops' rations. Defence Food Specifications will be formulated for them.

Specifications to be aligned with FSSAI and BIS norms

The committee reviewed the need to bring Defence Food Specifications, and with them Indian Army food standards, in line with the national standards and regulatory requirements prescribed by FSSAI, BIS, AGMARK and other bodies. The balance being kept is between operational requirements, quality assurance and ease of procurement. Scientific institutions such as CFTRI and the regulators are part of that process alongside the Services.

The deliberations are expected to lead to more robust specifications and improved procurement, the Army said.

Food standards committee dates back to 1944

The TSC on Foodstuffs is one of the Army's older standing bodies. It was constituted in 1944 as an inter-departmental committee to update the Royal Indian Army Service Corps specifications, when the Army was buying food in huge quantities during the Second World War, according to a paper published in DRDO's Defence Science Journal in 1984. After Independence its work widened into research and standardisation, and the specifications it set came to be known as ASC specifications.

By 1984, the committee had formulated about 200 of them.