Memorandum Number: No. 174-M

MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS

The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low IntensityConflict, Office of Humanitarian Affairs (SOLIC-HRA) has approved the surfacemovement of 245,000 Humanitarian Daily Rations (HDRs) from Italy to Croatia. Afact sheet on HDRs is attached.

The HDRs will be surface-shipped from DoD warehouses at the Leghorn Army DepotActivity, Livorno, Italy to warehouses controlled by the United Nations HighCommissioner for Refugees, Zagreb, Croatia. The shipment is expected to becompleted by August 10, 1995.

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HUMANITARIAN DAILY RATION

The Humanitarian Daily Ration (HDR) was specifically designed by the Office ofHumanitarian and Refugee Affairs for use in emergency situations to feed andsustain moderately malnourished people until more traditional feeding methodsare restored. This nutritious, culturally sensitive and cost-effective rationhas drawn praise from the U.N. and the international relief community, and hasemerged as a significant and lasting contributor to the fight against hunger.

The HDR is a pre-packaged, ready-to-eat food ration that provides an entireday's nutritional requirement. Each ration packet contains two main vegetarianmeals which rely heavily on lentils, beans and rice, and complementary itemslike bread, a fruit bar, a fortified biscuit, peanut butter and spices.Weighing in at nearly 2,200 calories, each HDR costs $3.95 and has a shelf lifeof 18 - 24 months.

The HDR packaging is bright yellow for easy identification on the ground whenair-dropped and includes illustrations depicting consumption procedures.Hundreds of thousands of HDR's were first air-dropped over isolated Bosnianenclaves on November 22, 1993, as part of the humanitarian relief effortPROVIDE PROMISE. Since then, the food packets have fed thousands of refugeesworldwide.

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