Food Menu
	Polar diet  Selected Foodstuffs  Food Technology  4 602 Kcal Rations  5 636 Kcal Rations  6 206 Kcal Rations

It was with this in mind that everything had to be put in place to ensure maximum nutritional value for a minimum weight, whilst using packaging which would match up to strict loading criteria and its ability to be naturally recycled.

Freeze Drying
Freeze drying (cryodessication) combines the virtues of dehydration and chilling for preserving. The fresh product is first of all frozen to a low temperature (- 40°C); put under vacuum it is then progressively reheated in a way which provokes conversion of the ice. This technique presents the huge advantage of enabling the product to keep its flavour, its basic properties and all its biological value.

Retaining water in food is a problem for the weight factor. In the case of this expedition, the use of cryodessication as an industrial process has allowed a saving of about 10 kg on the total weight of foods which need to be transported. These operations were carried out by the specialist laboratory at the Centre for Rural Economics (CRE) of Marloie at Marche en Famenne.

Packaging
The study on packaging of the food rations for the expedition was led by the Ecole Supérieure d'Ingénieurs en Emballage et Conditionnement (ESIEC) of Rheims (Higher Engineering Institute of Packaging and Packing). The objective followed was to optimise the total packaging weight whilst guaranteeing food preservation and sturdiness. Before being split into daily rations, the different components were packed in a thermo-retractable film of 25 microns thickness; formed from 3 co-extruded layers of polyolefine, which is entirely recyclable and can withstand extreme conditions. The industrial processing was carried out by a company specialised in special films and packaging, Bolore Technologies in Quimper, France. The total weight of packaging was thus reduced to 14 grams per ration, or 1.4 kilos for the 100 days of food.

The splitting up of the anhydrous milk-fats (AMF).
The CORMAN company sited at Goé-Limbourg, between Verviers and Eupen, produces almost 80,000 tons of anhydrous milk-fats (AMF) and specialist butters (reduced fat and others) per year.

Splitting the fat content of milk enables the hardness of the AMF to be modified. The splitting of fat matter is a physical process of division of the fat into its various components. It is the only modification treatment of the physical properties carried out on milk fats. The operation is based on crystallisation, which takes place in tanks where the fat matter undergoes a programmed chilling whilst being stirred. The crystalline phase (stearic fraction) is separated from the liquid phase (oleic fraction) by filtration. The possibilities of splitting are more or less infinite. When applied to the fat matter in milk which melts at 32°C, it is possible to prepare fractions at the point of fusion and adjustable between 10 and 44°C.