However, in actual fact, these orders were very difficult to implement. The bread issued to the soldiers was often either rotten or improperly cooked, and Ibrahim Pasha had to order an investigation into why it was constantly inedible and black in color. Earlier in Arabia the situation was not much better. In response to repeated complaints that the warehouses in Jedda were empty, Mehmed Ali wrote to the governor of Mecca insisting that enough food supplies had already been sent and it could not be true as was claimed by his officials there that the supplies had already been used up. It was later discovered that these warehouses were unsuitable for storing food and that in consequence a lot of the peksimet sent had gone bad and "entered the state of that which has a name but no body (ismi var cismi yok)."

XREF: Connects to the earlier claim at loc 935 about provisioning innovations leaving soldiers unpaid and loc 936 about theft via unweighed cargo — together they build a picture of endemic corruption and infrastructure failure in military supply. Builds on: "Unweighed cargo enabled theft beyond official detection."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 937