nutraloaf

File:Don't waste bread.jpg]]

During times of war or famine, when flour becomes rare, substitution of flour to produce bread is common. This occurred frequently during World War I and World War II. Regular substitution usually included vegetables (often home grown, victory gardens), other grains such as rye and food waste. During World War II this bread was known as "war bread," with belligerent countries encouraging it's production. Very rarely during war was meat used in nutraloafs due to it's extensive rationing. Scraps of bread such as leftover bread crust and bread crumbs were encouraged to be grounded into a loaf with other ingredients, and was commonplace during both World Wars. More regularly in the modern day nutraloafs are served as an unappetizing meal to prisoners, allowing for basic nutrient and vitamin quotas to be met, often as a punishment. The overall legality, and ethics of forced sustenance based of nutraloafs is often considered a human rights violation.{{Cite web|url=https://red.library.usd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1107&context=honors-thesis|title=Food In Prison: An Eighth Amendment Violation or Permissible Punishment|author=Natasha M. Clark}}

File:The war-bread wagon LCCN2016645674.tif

There are many recipes that include a range of food, from vegetables, fruit, meat, and bread or other grains. The ingredients are blended and baked into a solid loaf. In one version, it is made from a mixture of ingredients that include ground beef, vegetables, beans, and bread crumbs. Other versions include mechanically separated poultry and "dairy blend".{{cite web |title=ARNETT, CARPENTER (CARTER), JOHNSON, SMALLEY, WILLIAMS, and WUEBBELS v. SNYDER |url=http://www.state.il.us/court/opinions/appellatecourt/2001/4thdistrict/October/HTML/4000895.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130704105343/http://www.state.il.us/court/opinions/appellatecourt/2001/4thdistrict/October/HTML/4000895.htm |archive-date=2013-07-04 |access-date=March 11, 2013 |publisher=Illinois Appellate Court}}

Lawsuits regarding nutraloaf have taken place in multiple US states.[http://www.state.il.us/court/opinions/appellatecourt/2001/4thdistrict/october/html/4000895.htm Arnett v. Snyder, 331 Ill. App. 3d 518 (2001)]{{cite news |last=Greenwood |first=Arin |date=July 1, 2010 |title=It's What's for Dinner |url=http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/its_whats_for_dinner/ |access-date=August 21, 2018 |work=ABA Journal}} In March 2008, prisoners brought a case before the Vermont Supreme Court, arguing that since Vermont state law does not allow food to be used as punishment, nutraloaf must be removed from the menu.{{cite web |last=Ring |first=Wilson |date=March 23, 2008 |title=Vermont inmates call food foul, sue over it |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23761712 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117032926/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23761712 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 17, 2021 |access-date=March 26, 2008 |publisher=NBC News}} The Vermont Supreme Court held that the nutraloaf and water diet constitutes punishment as it was designed to be unappetizing and required a hearing prior to it being served to prisoners.{{cite web|url=https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2009/aug/15/vermont-supreme-court-nutraloaf-diet-is-punishment-that-requires-hearing/|title=Vermont Supreme Court: 'Nutraloaf' Diet Is Punishment That Requires Hearing |publisher=Prison Legal News |access-date=August 15, 2009}} Other state courts in Illinois, New York, and West Virginia have upheld nutraloaf against 8th Amendment challenges over claims that it constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

Nutraloaf's usage has generally been upheld in federal courts, with rulings in favor of nutraloaf's usage from the 8th and 9th Circuit courts. A similar food item was mentioned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1978 in Hutto v. Finney while ruling that conditions in the Arkansas penal system constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Among other complaints, prisoners reported being fed "{{not a typo|grue}}", described as "a substance created by mashing meat, potatoes, oleo margarine, syrup, vegetables, eggs, and seasoning into a paste and baking the mixture in a pan". The majority opinion delivered by Justice John Paul Stevens upheld an opinion from the 8th Circuit Court that the {{not a typo|grue}} diet be discontinued.{{cite court |litigants=Hutto v. Finney |vol=437 |reporter=U.S. |opinion=678 |pinpoint=10 |court=U.S. |date=1978 |url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=437&invol=678 |accessdate=January 2, 2014 |quote=A filthy, overcrowded cell and a diet of '{{not a typo|grue}}' might be tolerable for a few days and intolerably cruel for weeks or months.}} In April 2010, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona won a federal judgment in favor of the constitutionality of nutraloaf.{{cite press release|url=http://mcso.org/include/pr_pdf/Elizabeth%20Johnson%20%20News%20Release.pdf |title=Arpaio Wins Summary Judgment in Federal Court |publisher=MCSO |access-date=April 13, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612214028/http://mcso.org/include/pr_pdf/Elizabeth%20Johnson%20%20News%20Release.pdf |archive-date=June 12, 2010 }} In Gordon v. Barnett, the District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled that although it was not cruel and unusual, nutraloaf is a punishment and that prisoners are entitled to a due process hearing before being subjected to it.

The standards of the American Correctional Association, which accredits prisons, discourage the use of food as a disciplinary measure, but adherence to the organization's food standards is voluntary.{{cite web | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/04/nyregion/our-towns-what-s-worse-than-solitary-confinement-just-taste-this.html | title = What's Worse Than Solitary Confinement? Just Taste This | work = The New York Times | date = August 4, 2002 | access-date = March 24, 2008 |first=Matthew |last=Purdy }}{{cite web | url = http://restaurants.riverfronttimes.com/2008-03-19/dining/keep-it-down | title = Cruel and unusual punishment: Malcolm sentences himself to Prison Loaf | last = Gay | first = Malcolm | publisher = Riverfront Times | date = March 19, 2008 | access-date = March 24, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080325072431/http://restaurants.riverfronttimes.com/2008-03-19/dining/keep-it-down/ | archive-date = March 25, 2008 | url-status = dead }} Denying inmates food as punishment has been found to be unconstitutional by the courts,{{cite web|url=http://www.aele.org/law/2007JBJUL/2007-07MLJ301.pdf|title=Prisoner Diet Legal Issues|publisher=AELE (Americans for Effective Law Enforcement) Law Journal|date=July 2007}} but because the loaf is generally nutritionally complete, it is sometimes justified as a "dietary adjustment" rather than a denial of proper meals.

As of 2016, California, New York, Massachusetts, and Minnesota have banned serving nutraloaf to inmates.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/nyregion/new-york-prisons-take-an-unsavory-punishment-off-the-table.html|title=New York Prisons Take an Unsavory Punishment Off the Table|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 17, 2015|last1=McKinley|first1=Jesse}}{{cite web|url=https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2016/mar/31/use-nutraloaf-decline-us-prisons/|title=Use of Nutraloaf on the Decline in U.S. Prisons |publisher=Prison Legal News |date = March 31, 2016}}

• Gruel
• Hardtack, hard bread of military and naval use
• Horsebread, a European bread eaten by the poor in the Middle Ages
• Humanitarian daily ration
• Kongbap, a staple in Korean prisons, various mixtures of rice, grains, peas, and beans
• Pemmican
• List of diets

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/September-2010/Dining-Critic-Tries-Nutraloaf-the-Prison-Food-for-Misbehaving-Inmates/ Chicago magazine dining critic tries Nutraloaf], September 2010
• [http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/who_wants_nutra_loaf/ Clark County jail's recipe] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20090627064628/http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/who_wants_nutra_loaf/ Archive])
• {{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2075999/|title=Loaf Without Parole|publisher=Slate.com|date=December 23, 2002}} Contains a recipe for "the Loaf".
• Cohen, Adam. "[https://ideas.time.com/2012/04/02/can-food-be-cruel-and-unusual-punishment/ Can Food Be Cruel and Unusual Punishment?]" TIME. April 2, 2012.
• Greenwood, Arin. "[http://www.slate.com/id/2193538/ Taste-Testing Nutraloaf]." Slate. Tuesday June 24, 2008.
• "[http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/arkansas-department-of-corrections-recipe-for-disciplinary-meatloaf/Content?oid=4298260 Arkansas Department of Correction's recipe for disciplinary meatloaf ]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160302030905/http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/arkansas-department-of-corrections-recipe-for-disciplinary-meatloaf/Content?oid=4298260 Archive]). Arkansas Times. February 25, 2016.
• Fuchs, Erin. "[http://www.businessinsider.com/what-do-people-eat-in-solitary-confinement-2013-6 NUTRALOAF: This Revolting Food Is Used As Punishment In Prison]." Business Insider. June 25, 2013.
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5NI5Rp3oXs The Food So Bad That It's Banned In Prison] Half As Interesting. January 7, 2021

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Category:Breads

Category:Penal system in the United States

Category:Penal system in Canada

Category:Prison food