Reducing the price of Plumpy’nut

Dear Editor,

The August edition of Field Exchange (Issue 16, p28) published an article by Anna Taylor (headquarters nutrition advisor for SC UK), summarising the evaluation of the Outpatient Therapeutic Programme (OTP) project by Save the Children UK in North Darfur, Sudan in 2001.

In her conclusion (point 8) Anna states that priority should be given to the development of new products with a view to reducing prices, since Nutriset Plumpy'nut is currently prohibitively expensive for routine use. We would like to comment on this pricing issue and update your readers on our recent ventures aimed at improving sustainability of readyto- use therapeutic food.

We are aware of the fact that imported products are expensive. This is partly due to the use of milk based ingredients in this product and also the need to use a sophisticated packaging technology to ensure the long storage life required for long distance transports. Regular production, however, has enabled us to decrease Plumpy'nut prices over the past few months.

To make the home based treatment with Plumpy'nut more sustainable, Nutriset is actively exploring the local production of this food. This option should be more adapted to the post emergency phase of interventions. A number of tests are being carried out, and a local production has already started in Malawi. In addition, we are currently involved in a project to set up a local production of Plumpy'nut in Dakar, Senegal.

The Dakar Project has involved working partnerships between the Human Nutrition team at the Laboratory of animal physiology (Sciences and Technology College) at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal; Nutriset; the ITA (Institute for Food Technology) and Co Aid (Corporation of African Integrative Development). Preliminary results (due for publication) using Plumpy'nut in malnourished children demonstrate weight gains on Plumpy'nut that are higher than those obtained with the reference product, F100.

As part of the project, consideration has been given to the development of this kind of project in other geographical areas. Indeed there is potential for NGOs or other organisations to locally produce Plumpy'nut. To this end, relevant information and our experiences will be made available for use by NGOs and other organisations identified for local production in the future.

Yours sincerely
Michel Lescanne,

NUTRISET BP 35 - 76770, Malaunay, France tel : +33 (0)2 32 93 82 82 fax : +33 (0)2 35 33 14 15.Web: http://www.nutriset.fr/