OSU Lab Pits Mountain House vs Wise Foods ... Results are WOW!

http://safecastle.blogspot.com/2012/...-house-vs.html

We just received information about a scientific third-party test conducted by Oregon State University.

There has been increasing controversy in the marketplace with regard to claims made by some storage-food manufacturers about their foods and shelf life, etc.

A previous recent test performed at Columbia Food Labs addressed shelf-life claims made by Wise Foods, showing the oxygen levels in that company's food packages are extremely high and not conducive to long shelf life for the foods in those packages.

Now this just released university test (conducted by the Sensory Science Lab at OSU in late July of this year) shows that there is a big difference in consumer preference in taste as well. Using a representative cross-section of 113 participants, a randomized, blind tasting test of comparable Mountain House and Wise Foods varieties was conducted.

In the end, the results were quite amazing, with the Mountain House foods preferred by a wide margin, averaging better than 90%. The lab indicates results have a 99.9% confidence level.

The summary slide presentation is available here.

The complete OSU data report can be viewed here.

 

Personally I simply dont trust any of this engineered food, MRE's or the freeze dried stuff. I do have some stashed away and it will be the stuff we will eat when there is nothing else to eat...including rendering down rawhide in water with some sumac and call it "soup".
We have been eating farm fresh for so long now, a freeze dried meal could block me up tighter than a frogs ass.

 

Thanks for the summary and the links, Vic!

Kajun

 

A second test. Wise foods must be really eating into MH market share (ya, it was a pun) to do a one-two attack like this.
Either that, or MH sponsored some undergrad student @ OSU that needed 'something different' for thesis material.

Oddly, other than a low key reply seen here (http://www.foodstoragereviewer.com/wise-company-issues-its-own-press-release/) for the first test - Wise has been all but silent.
I wonder why?

Anyway - thanks for the post.

 

Actually, MH has historically been very low-key and passive in their marketing and PR. They did not even have a formal department for those things. However, last year, their long-time President passed away. The new regime has come in and made some very major changes that are just now kicking into gear. (For instance, storage food was not even previously considered a major market for them compared to their many other marketplaces they play in. That is now changed.)

Part of the reason for the new focus on this market is that Wise and a few other late entrants into the storage food business appeared out of nowhere last year to fill the vaccuum when MH shut down for several months when they were bogged down with a backlog avalanche of orders. Wise and e-Foods for instance are all about marketing--Not about quality food. Those companies came in and did capture some market share, and MH is going to take it back now. There is a whole lot more in the works, in terms of product development, marketing, and PR, so stand by.

 

Interesting. Do you know if eFoods, Food Insurance and any of the other newbys will get the same treatment? That is to say - testing of O2 levels, taste testing and so on, or has Wise been the only one to capture enough market share to be a bother?

I'm very aware of the main market focus for these new guys in the ball field, but given the multi-thread approach used by Wise et al, MH may really have to really up their game and invite a lot of smaller players into the playing field - and I've not seen that as yet.

I probably spend too much time on line looking at different boards, and I see - for example - where Wise has folks going into churches to make a direct pitch, which while on the borderline of ethical - given that market segment - does put OFDF at a competitive disadvantage.

What? The Wise pitchmen may not disclose the % of markup they take for the presentation. Commissioned sales staff should always be identified as such, to do otherwise, IMO, is not ethical. That may just be me.

Well, I look forward to their new marketing approach, could prove to be interesting.

 

I guess this means it is no longer a rumor.... bucket has gamma lids, nice touch.

 

Actually--that is someone else's rigged-up bucket offering using MH pouches, I guess.

The new MH buckets are almost ready for release. Here's what they look like ...

 

So - it isn't a rumor after all.

Thanks! When will these hit the street?

 

I heard they took their first shipment of buckets in this week, so they are ready to start bulding inventory. Not sure when they will go on the market, but a few weeks ago I had heard the target was Sept. 1. We'll soon see if they can make that happen.

 

Hi Everyone,

Apologies in advance for the long post, but over the last month we’ve seen many requests for more data as well as questions about the studies we’ve published. At Mountain House, we’re strong advocates of transparency and we’d like to take a couple of minutes to provide you with some more information.

The most frequent data request we have seen has been for the oxygen content of more samples of Wise products. While Wise has chosen not to respond to those requests, Mountain House has commissioned another third party study of their remaining long-term food storage line, adding their fruit, vegetable, meat, sauce, and cereal products to the dry-blended entrees from the earlier study. Here is a summary of the combined results (we’d be happy to provide the underlying data upon request):

* 90 separate sample pouches.
* Dated from 6/11/11 through 4/24/12.
* A minimum of 34 distinct batches.
* Purchased at retail from 4 different online vendors.
* Sent to a third party laboratory in original packaging.
* Oxygen levels averaged 17.1% across the entire Wise long-term food storage product line.

We strongly suggest that customers of long-term emergency food storage confirm not only the flavor and nutrition of products they’re planning on purchasing, but also the oxygen content, before spending a large sum of money. Mountain House has over 40 years of experience meeting and exceeding stringent military specs (e.g., < 2% oxygen), and you can be confident that our products will be there for you when you need them most. Emergencies can be stressful and you want to be sure that you will enjoy the food you have stored, whatever brand(s) you choose.

Another frequent question focuses on the funding of the oxygen content and sensory evaluation studies we’ve released. We are very open about this: Mountain House hired unaffiliated organizations that specialize in testing to conduct research. The reason we did this was to assure customers that the resulting data was solid and free from bias.

We actually have a state-of-the-art food laboratory and could have easily performed the studies ourselves, just as we routinely test our own products as part of our rigorous quality assurance process. But we know that when a company claims that “we have tests that prove what we say”, customers are rightly skeptical, even if the company publishes that data.

Instead, we hired third party organizations to conduct the studies: Columbia Food Laboratories for the oxygen headspace analysis and Oregon State University’s Sensory Science Laboratory for the sensory evaluation. Neither is affiliated with Mountain House or the emergency food storage industry, and both value their reputations as respected scientific organizations.

If other companies wish to fund similar unbiased third party studies of Mountain House products purchased from multiple online vendors, we encourage them to do so. It is a large market, customer tastes and budgets vary, and there is plenty of room for honest competition among reputable manufacturers.

As a leader in the long-term food storage industry for over 40 years, Mountain House wants customers to be able to make informed decisions regarding purchases that will sustain their families and give them comfort in times of emergency. Towards that end, we will continue to test both our own and competitive products in the market and report our findings to interested consumers.

Please feel free to contact us at MH-Info (at) ofd.com, or post your questions/comments on this forum. We’ll do our best to respond promptly.

Thanks for your interest in this very important subject.

Mountain House.

 

Thanks for posting the above.

Are you (OFD) ready to release the contents of the upcoming bucket line and possible price points?

Also - you had, IMO, an excellent product in the 'wrap' line of freeze dry - why did you drop the choices? I love the Mexican beef!

 

DKR,

We should have our first shipment of "Just in Case..." buckets on their way to dealers the week after Labor Day. We'll have two different varieties out of the gate:

* Essential Assortment: 4 pouches each of our Chili Mac w/Beef, Spaghetti w/Meat Sauce, and Rice & Chicken. MSRP = $69.99
* Classic Assortment: 2 pouches each of our Beef Stroganoff w/Noodles, Lasagna w/Meat Sauce, Chicken Teriyaki w/Rice, Noodles & Chicken, Beef Stew, and Granola w/Blueberries. MSRP = $75.99

All of the entree pouches use real chicken and beef in the recipes (i.e., no TVP), and all of the pouches have 0g of trans fat per serving.

We're delighted that you enjoyed our Mexican Beef wraps, but they were, alas, a victim of low volume. On the positive side, you could very well find some still available online, still in top form...

Thanks for your questions!

Mountain House