EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) – A company just off U.S 41 and Volkman Road has spent decades producing one of the most essential items for U.S. service members deployed overseas: the meal-ready-to-eat, or MRE.
AmeriQual Foods employs 400 to 500 workers and produces between 12 and 18 million MREs per year — roughly one-third of the military’s annual request, according to Executive Vice President John Knapp.
‘A zero-defect ration’
Knapp said the stakes of the product are unlike those of most food manufacturing.
“This is a meal that’s, it’s a field ration. So they’re going to eat it in a place where there isn’t an option. If they open it up and it’s not good, if we’ve done something wrong, if it’s not, if there’s something in there that’s not desirable, they aren’t going to eat,” Knapp said…