Can an American Startup Help
End Starvation in Gaza?
The U.S. plan to build a
temporary pier to deliver food to Palestinians is a case of fighting the last
war. We need to employ new thinking and new technologies to reduce human
suffering.
EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD
TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH
INVESTORS
MAR 26, 2024
Watching and reading about the very modest U.S. airdrops of MRE food bundles into destroyed parts of Gaza which will, of course, largely be stolen at gunpoint by Hamas terrorists, I was really struck by how these performative airborne gestures are so trivial and inconsequential even if the food eventually were to reach the right people. Sadly, in the category of "no good deed goes unpunished," the Israeli Defense Force has had the impossible task of trying to protect the truck deliveries from both Hamas and the starving, desperate population, which storms every shipment as soon as it appears.
Apparently,
our own military has decided that flyovers are less risky even if they don't remotely
address the volumes of food and other material that are
actually required. (Sixty-six MRE bundles contain roughly 38,000 meals, which
is so insignificant that it's almost worse than doing nothing, especially when
we could readily do so much more.) The present estimate is that around six
million meals a day are required. While logistics are always going to be
challenging in debacles like this, the real problem - as is almost always the
case with the military - is that the planners are stuck in the past. They're
fighting the last war.
They
need to look ahead-- there are startups that might be in a position to help.
The
lessons of the Berlin airlift of 1948 aren't going to teach us anything about
how to solve today's or tomorrow's crises. And, as historic and massive as our
successful efforts were in Kabul, where more than 120,000 people were evacuated
in roughly two weeks, we're looking at a population of more than 20 times that
size which has no desire to leave. Nor do the dozen neighboring Arab nations
have the slightest interest in receiving any more Palestinian evacuees, even if
they were interested in leaving Gaza.
The
latest brainstorm - a temporary pier in the Mediterranean Sea off the Gaza
coast for deliveries-- is vaguely reminiscent of the World War II Seabees and
may actually be a slower delivery system than the trucks. It will take at least
two months to be installed and activated after adequate security provisions are
made. And even the Orange Monster recognizes that the new pier won't address
the fact that the Hamas murderers will steal inbound food from civilians.
Every
credible report from Gaza suggests that hundreds of truckloads of foodstuffs
are required daily to address even the most basic requirements of the civilian
population. It's nice to see that the Biden administration and the Democrats in
Congress are trying to do something to provide further aid and help stave off
starvation, but it's embarrassing and insulting to any rational person's
intelligence to think that these cosmetic demonstrations are going to do any
real good. Never mind that the repugnant MAGA Republicans continue to refuse to
support any legislation that would provide such assistance.
There's
a lot of frustration watching our government and military using ancient
approaches and solutions in an age when the tools and technology exist to act
at scale in far more effective and impactful ways. Sending huge, heavy bags of
raw preparation materials may look effective, but given the lack of the
other essential resources, it's like tossing an anvil to a drowning man.
There's a cleaner, quicker and much more efficient solution.
To stem
malnutrition and starvation in Gaza there needs to be large-scale and easily
distributable solutions that supply the necessary proteins, carbohydrates,
lipids and other nutrients to the target population. The form of the food (the
delivery vehicle) doesn't drive the results; it's the functional nutritional
content that the food delivers. Given the food processing technologies that we
now have, we can pack far more immediate benefit, carbs, and calories into a
tiny one-inch square gummy cube than you'll find in a T-bone steak or a slice
of salmon.
In a
word, for today's most pressing issues, MealCubes, and not MREs, are one
available and compelling alternative answer. MealCubes are the product of Meepo, a venture backed startup that is
producing of miniature, candy-like, jells that can be customized to individual
nutritional requirements. Each cube packet provides the nutritional and dietary
equivalents of a real meal. Each cube provides 420 calories, 25 grams of
protein, 28 grams of healthy fat, 23 grams of complex carbs, and 35 vitamins
and minerals.
Even
more importantly, MealCubes are 1/10th the weight of MREs
and take up 1/16th of the storage space. MealCubes can be
consumed immediately, anywhere, while MREs require 15-to-30 minutes to set up,
heat and eat. Needless to say, in the stressful and dangerous context of
providing meals in Gaza, all of these considerations take on particular
importance in terms of volume, speed, effectiveness and cost.
Interestingly
enough, SpaceX is one of Meepo's larger initial customers and various military
groups are actively evaluating the products as well. I think of this as a
further step in the Tang beverage
evolution, which began in the 1960s when the U.S. space program
provided powdered orange juice for the Gemini astronauts. NASA needed a
space-age approach to nutrition and in 1962 Tang went into Earth orbit with
John Glenn. Tang was basically a sugary base to which water was added to make
"orange" juice that was about as attractive and healthy looking as
Trump's spray on complexion. It was all about speed, ease, and space -
certainly not taste.
Tang is
still around -- sadly, much like the Orange Monster. And, amazingly, it's
one of the most popular drinks during Ramadan, according to Mondelez
International, the food corporation that now owns the brand.
With so
many lives on the line, you'd hope and even imagine that the government is
actively seeking the best available solutions, but it appears that the only
response to date has been to do it the way that these things have always been
done. Innovative solutions and technologies can save lives, but only if they
are applied by interested and knowledgeable entrepreneurs rather than ignored
or blocked by bloated bureaucrats and lazy procurement personnel.