HeaterMeals Has Reduced Sodium Content

In April, the FDA announced plans to begin gradually cutting back sodium levels in the food Americans eat. While we need salt to live, the FDA argues that Americans consume salt at levels that are harmful to us. Their effort to limit sodium is an attempt to fight such health problems as high blood pressure, heart disease, strokes and other health problems that have become increasingly common.

While we support the FDA’s goals, we have to ask, what took you so long?

Here at HeaterMeals, we’re proud to say that our entrees are already lower in salt than other emergency meals and MREs. In some cases, we’re as much as 35% to 70% less! Yet we’ve maintained our tasty flavor in our self-heating entrees.

We lowered our sodium levels in 2002 when the U.S. Army Quartermaster Center’s Army Center of Excellence, Subsistence (ACES) at Fort Lee, VA launched a low-sodium initiative for shelf-stable meal kits used by the U. S. Armed Forces. While all shelf-stable meal makers were forced to lower their sodium levels, HeaterMeals saw the opportunity to lead the market and lowered our salt content the most.

At the same time, we recognized that the diets of ordinary people, those who would be most likely to eat an emergency meal, did not need the high calories and carbohydrates that a soldier needed. So we made sure our meals maintained higher levels of protein and fiber, designing them for the typical adult diet.

HeaterMeals continues to be the leading self-heating meal in variety, convenience, taste and nutrition. As a result, HeaterMeals Self-Heating Meals can be fed to people of all ages, from Scout Troops to Senior Citizens. We are the most widely used meal for feeding the general public in emergency shelter-in-place applications.