Plumpy Nut

PLUMPY NUT

The problem of malnutrition is a world wide problem. Every time I turn on the

television I see stories of malnourished children all over the world. Most recently I have

been hearing a lot about hunger and malnutrition in Africa. It was amazing to me to know

that something as simple and as common as peanuts and vitamins can make a big

difference in a child's life. That is what Plumpy Nut is made out of.

Inspired by the popular Nutella spread, which is like a peanut spread,

plumpy nut was formulated in 1999, by a French scientist named Andre Breind. The

product is manufactured by Nutriset, a French company that specializes in making food

supplements for relief work in their factory in northern France. We manufacture 80% of

our products in a 2,500 m2 plant.Our production capacity is around 30 tons/day and we

have storage space for 400 tons. we can switch from one shift to two or three shifts a day

depending on demand. (Nutriset) It is a high protein and high energy peanut-based paste

that can be administered by parents to their children at home without the supervision of

doctors or nurses. The prescription given mothers here is simple: Give one baby two

packets of Plumpy'nut each day. Watch him wolf them down. Wait for him to grow.

Which he will, almost immediately: By eating Plumpy' nut, badly malnourished babies

can each week gain one to two pounds, or roughly 454 grams to 907 grams.(Wines

Niger). Perhaps most revolutionary, however, is the mother, not doctors, can give it to

2

their toddlers. That not only reduces costs, but frees the doctors to attend the sickest

children, who often suffer not just from malnutrition, but from diseases like malaria or

dysentery. (WinesA5). Traditional malnutrition therapy hospitalizes children , nursing

them to health with steady infusions of vitamin laced milk. Then they are sent home with

powdered milk formula to complete their recovery it works well, but milk is costly, must

be mixed with water and is prone to spoil. (Wines A5).

Prior to the discovery of plumpy nut, the company used powdered milk formula

called F-75, and F-100 to treat malnutrition. This required the mixing of the product with

clean water, which often is not available in those areas. In order to make sure