A highly nutritive bread, developed and gamma irradiated to serve in disaster relief or as an emergency ration

A shelf stable highly nutritive bread (HNB), formulated to cover nutritional requirements of people in need of an emergency staple food, was gamma irradiated to improve its sanitary quality and extend shelf life. Packed in polyethylene film and gamma irradiated at 6 kGy, it attained at least a six times shelf life extension, being stored during 43 days at room temperature while maintaining its sensory quality. This HNB remained microbiologically safe for at least nine months.