THE FEEDING of members of the Armed Forces is an important factor in effective operations. Not only must the food be nutritious but it must have an appeal that gives satisfaction to the consumer. The American soldier likes foodvariety; he likes a satisfying meal, and he likes to have it where he is and not at some inaccessible point. The concepts of military operations are changing rapidly, from concepts of static or slow-moving operations to those of extreme mobility, from concepts of concentrations in strength to those of dispersion with even greater strength. With these new concepts has arisen the necessity for versatile and effective new means of supply, one of the important segments being that of food supply. To meet such a challenge it has become necessary to embark on a program of investigation to determine the best means of supplying food to operational troops, on land, in the air, or under the sea. To meet the need of the modern military forces the food must be nutritious, light in weight, occupy a minimum of space, be extremely stable without refrigeration, and be palatable to the soldier over a considerable period of time. Studies have led to improvement of existing ration items, the development of new types of items, and investigations into entirely new types of products. From these studies have come liquid foods and semisolid foods for the feeding of airmen at high altitudes, dehydrated precooked foods that require only the addition of water to prepare a complete meal for ground troops, and ration-dense foods for seamen. One of the boldest approaches contributing to solving food problems in this area is the use of ionizing radiation to preserve food items. This paper is concerned with this particular approach to the provision of ration items for the Armed Forces. Successful preservation by irradiation would offer several advantages not apparent in other types of preservation. F'or example, preservation by ionizing radiation is a "cold process" and, therefore, can be used on foods sensitive to thermal processing. Also, such items as roast pork, fried chicken, bacon, or sandwich components can be preserved in their natural states without much change in flavor or loss of texture such as would be characteristic of thermal processing. While the density or weight of this type of food item can be altered very little other advantages indicate that this method of preservation would prove advantageous in certain areas.