Plumpy'nut

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Peanut-derived food used to treat child malnutrition, particularly during famines

title: "Plumpy'nut" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["products-introduced-in-1999", "dietary-supplements", "hunger-relief", "malnutrition", "emergency-medical-services", "peanut-butter-brands", "famines", "food-paste", "french-inventions"] description: "Peanut-derived food used to treat child malnutrition, particularly during famines" topic_path: "geography/france" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumpy'nut" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Peanut-derived food used to treat child malnutrition, particularly during famines ::

| name = Plumpy'Nut | image = 18-month-old James and his mother Margaret, pictured with a supply of sachets og Plumpy Nut, a Ready to Use Therapeutic Food used to treat acute maluntrition, Turkana County, northern Kenya, 28 March 2017 (33140342933).jpg | caption = Plumpy'Nut, a ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) | serving_size = 92 g | kJ = 2100 | fat = 30.3 g | satfat = | transfat = | carbs = 45 g | fiber = | sugars = | protein = 12.8 g | opt1n = Ingredients | opt1v = peanut paste, vegetable oil, powdered milk, powdered sugar, vitamins, minerals | source = Nutriset, France | note =

Plumpy'Nut is a peanut-based paste, packaged in a plastic wrapper, for treatment of severe acute malnutrition. Plumpy'Nut is manufactured by Nutriset, a French company. Feeding with the 92 g packets of this paste reduces the need for hospitalization. It can be administered at home, allowing more people to be treated.

Plumpy'Nut may be referred to in scientific literature as a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) alongside other RUTFs such as BP100.

Nutriset has been criticized by Médecins Sans Frontières for enforcing its Plumpy'Nut patents. However, , Plumpy'Nut patents have expired in the US, UK and the European Union.

Use

Plumpy'Nut is used as a treatment for emergency malnutrition cases. It supports rapid weight gain derived from broad nutrient intake which can alleviate impending illness or death in a starving child.

Plumpy'Nut has a two-year shelf life and requires no water, preparation, or refrigeration. Its ease of use has made mass treatment of malnutrition in famine situations more efficient than in the past. Severe acute malnutrition has traditionally been treated with therapeutic milk and required hospitalization.{{Cite journal | pmid = 19801943 | year = 2010 | last1 = Creek | first1 = T. L. | title = Hospitalization and mortality among primarily nonbreastfed children during a large outbreak of diarrhea and malnutrition in Botswana, 2006 | journal = Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes | volume = 53 | issue = 1 | pages = 14–9 | last2 = Kim | first2 = A | last3 = Lu | first3 = L | last4 = Bowen | first4 = A | last5 = Masunge | first5 = J | last6 = Arvelo | first6 = W | last7 = Smit | first7 = M | last8 = Mach | first8 = O | last9 = Legwaila | first9 = K | last10 = Motswere | first10 = C | last11 = Zaks | first11 = L | last12 = Finkbeiner | first12 = T | last13 = Povinelli | first13 = L | last14 = Maruping | first14 = M | last15 = Ngwaru | first15 = G | last16 = Tebele | first16 = G | last17 = Bopp | first17 = C | last18 = Puhr | first18 = N | last19 = Johnston | first19 = S. P. | last20 = Dasilva | first20 = A. J. | last21 = Bern | first21 = C | last22 = Beard | first22 = R. S. | last23 = Davis | first23 = M. K. | display-authors=4 | doi = 10.1097/QAI.0b013e3181bdf676 | s2cid = 36176436 | doi-access = free

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Children_receive_PlumpyNut_nutritional_aid_in_Ethiopia_(5933857157).jpg" caption="Children receive Plumpy'nut nutritional aid in Ethiopia"] ::

The United Nations has recognized this utility, stating in 2007 that "new evidence suggests ... that large numbers of children with severe acute malnutrition can be treated in their communities without being admitted to a health facility or a therapeutic feeding centre," Plumpy'Nut conforms to the UN definition of a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF).

Plumpy'Nut is not intended for routine nutrition, or for malnutrition in non-famine situations. Peanut allergies have not been found to be a problem in usage due to a lack of allergic reactions in the target populations.

Composition

The ingredients in Plumpy'Nut include "peanut-based paste, with sugar, vegetable oil and skimmed milk powder, enriched with vitamins and minerals". Plumpy'Nut is said to be "surprisingly tasty".

Production

While the majority of Plumpy'Nut was made in France as of 2010, this therapeutic food is easily produced

A number of partner companies make Plumpy'Nut, including two U.S. nonprofits, Edesia Nutrition in Rhode Island and Mana in Georgia. |last= Smith |first= Cory |date= April 24, 2025 |title= Food for starving children piles up in Rhode Island warehouse amid cuts to USAID |url= https://foxbaltimore.com/news/nation-world/food-for-starving-children-piles-up-in-rhode-island-warehouse-amid-cuts-to-usaid-edesia-plumpynut-fortified-peanut-butter-state-department-doge-us-agency-for-international-development-foreign-assistance |newspaper=WBFF Fox45 |location= Baltimore, Maryland |access-date= May 17, 2025}} There are six factories in African countries (Niger, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Sudan, Madagascar, Kenya), one in Haiti and another one in India. |last= Sargent |first= Greg |date= February 25, 2025 |title= Musk Scandal at USAID Takes Ugly Turn, Putting Starving Kids at Risk |url= https://newrepublic.com/article/191935/usaid-musk-scandal-starving-kids |newspaper=The New Republic |location= |access-date= June 4, 2025 }}

Plumpy'Nut is distributed from the manufacturer to geographic areas of need through a complex supply chain. Forward (downstream) information flow, such as projections of need, order processing, and payment processing, and backward (upstream) information flow, including stock monitoring, quality assurance, and performance data occur through information exchange vulnerable to errors or tardiness associated with supply chain fragmentation. Factors affecting potential for loss of efficiency in the supply chain are information flow on orders, basis of need, forecasts, flow upstream from field officers and country offices to parties controlling regional distribution and manufacturing by Nutriset, downstream flow of information on delivery times and order status.

A complete two-month regimen for a child costs US$60 c. 2010.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Tackling_malnutrition_in_Kenya_with_UNICEF_and_plumpy_nut_(6219652473).jpg" caption="Woman giving Plumpy'Nut nutritional aid to her children in [[Kenya"] ::

Inspired by the popular Nutella spread, Plumpy'Nut was invented in 1996 by André Briend, a French paediatric nutritionist, and Michel Lescanne, a food-processing engineer. Nutella is a spread composed of sugar, modified palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa, skimmed milk powder, whey powder, lecithin, and vanillin. In contrast, Plumpy'Nut is a combination of peanut paste, vegetable oil and milk powder, without including chocolate, but containing sugar, vitamins and dietary minerals.

Patent issues

Nutriset holds or held patents in many countries (including , published in 2002) for the production of nut-based, nutritional foods as pastes, which they have defended to prevent non-licensees in the United States from producing similar products. In at least 27 African nations, any non-profit (including NGOs) can make the paste and not pay a license fee.

In 2010, two US non-profit organizations unsuccessfully sued the French company in an attempt to legally produce Plumpy'Nut in the US without paying the royalty fee. Invalidation of the Nutriset patent may have a positive impact on populations affected by famine, and studies by humanitarian organizations support the idea that having a single, dominant supplier in Nutriset is undesirable. Critics of Nutriset argue the US patent is "obvious in light of prior recipes" and "that the patent has essentially conferred monopoly power on Nutriset and thus violated the Sherman Act".

Following a threat of legal action against a Norwegian company that was exporting a similar product to Kenya, Nutriset was criticized by Médecins Sans Frontières, A UNICEF study, commissioned at Duke University and the University of North Carolina, recommended a diversified supplier base of RUTF products to better serve global needs. In response to the criticism, Nutriset has allowed companies and NGOs in some African countries to make the paste and not pay license fees.

The Plumpy'Nut patents in the USA expired in 2017 (), and in the UK and the European Union in 2018 ().

References

References

  1. "Plumpy'Nut®". Nutriset.
  2. "Plumpy'Nut®: Ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF)". Nutriset.
  3. Rice, Andrew. (2 September 2010). "The Peanut Solution". [[The New York Times Magazine.
  4. "BP-100™ RUTF Therapeutic food". Compact for Life.
  5. (13 November 2009). "MSF: Nutriset patent impeding access to treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition".
  6. (2014). "Nutrition facts for peanut butter, smooth style, without salt, USDA Nutrient Database SR-21". Conde Nast.
  7. (August 2003). "Comparison of the efficacy of a solid ready-to-use food and a liquid, milk-based diet for the rehabilitation of severely malnourished children: a randomized trial". American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
  8. (18 May 2007). "ECHO and UNICEF promote Plumpy'nut production to improve child nutrition in Niger". United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund.
  9. (6 September 2010). "Saying "Nuts" to Hunger". The Huffington Post, Washington, DC.
  10. Klonick K. (1 October 2006). "Peanut Paste Saves Starving African Children". ABC News.
  11. "The PlumpyField network : how it works". Nutriset.
  12. Swaminathan JK. (2009). "UNICEF's Plumpy'Nut supply chain". University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School, Center for Sustainable Enterprise.
  13. Swaminathan J. (13 October 2010). "Case study: Getting food to disaster victims". Financial Times.
  14. (11 November 2009). "FOOD: Making peanut butter gets stickier". UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
  15. Lavelle, Janet. (January 16, 2010). "Child malnutrition center of legal battle". The San Diego Union-Tribune.
  16. Bakhsh, Umar R.. "The Plumpy'Nut predicament: is compulsory licensing a solution?". Chicago Kent Journal of Intellectual Property.
  17. von Schoen-Angerer, Tido. "MSF: Nutriset patent impeding access to treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition". Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines.
  18. Team Praescient. (November 2011). "UNICEF'S Mission to End Hunger: Leveraging Analytic Methodologies to Advance Development Goals". praescientanalytics.com/.
  19. "Nutriset/IRD's Patents Usage Agreement". Nutriset.

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products-introduced-in-1999dietary-supplementshunger-reliefmalnutritionemergency-medical-servicespeanut-butter-brandsfaminesfood-pastefrench-inventions