ration" in Vietnamese called "lương khô" (Han-Nom: 糧枯). The Ministry of Defense also develops rations for the Special Operations Force and the Border Patrol Force. The new rations are used in three main courses - breakfast, lunch and dinner. They mostly contain Vietnamese braised pork, meat stews, sticky rice, white rice, dried vegetables that can be heated with water, nutrition drinks, fruit juices, nutrition snacks, eateries (spoon, fork and straw), napkins, and toothpicks. In the Vietnam War, Viet Cong troops often brought dried cooked vegetables, bags of pork floss, contained nutrition tabs, and ginger candy as their ration food. United Nations During peacekeeping operations in Lebanon, United Nations peacekeepers were reported to make use of a ration packaged similar to that of the American MRE designated the Individual Food Ration (French: Ration Alimentaire Individuelle). These rations are meant to be consumed over a period of 24 hours, and are notoriously difficult to acquire by civilians. There are 12 available menus in the form of 3 “Western” (Pasta with Beef and Chickpea Stew, Vegetables with Beef and Tomato and Cheese Pasta, Chilli Con Carne, Baked Beans), 3 Halal, 3 Kosher, and 3 Vegetarian. Each ration also comes with both sweet and salty biscuits and an accessory pack containing fruit muesli, fruit jelly, fruit jam, dark chocolate, cheese spread, chewing gum, eight pouches of sugar, salt, pepper, ketchup and Mexican sauce. Another accessory pack with instant coffee, tea, an instant fruit drink and a hyperprotein drink is also included. NATO Standard NATO defines a General Purpose Individual Operational Ration as "A self-contained combat ration that provides adequate food for 24 hours for one person to maintain health, physical performance, and cognitive function under routine training or operational conditions. This ration is shelf stable and may require water to rehydrate some of the contents. The contents may be eaten hot or cold. General purpose individual operational rations are intended to be used during standard military operations in very broad but typically moderate operational conditions." Shelf life The shelf life of the ration from the time of delivery to the contracting authority must be at least 24 months at a storage temperature of 25 °C. Nutritional content NATO bases the nutritional content requirement on a reference soldier weighing , who on normal operations would have an energy expenditure of approximately 3,600 kcal per day. For combat operations, i.e., missions involving sustained, dismounted light-infantry or