New product test at Tweed Lab.
As a pioneer in the field, Nutriset works daily on developing nutritional solutions for tomorrow that will meet the needs of a worrisome world situation. This approach represents a central financial and human investment for the company, whose history is marked by major innovative contributions to the combat against malnutrition.
F-75, F-100 and Plumpy’Nut®: innovations that have become indispensable
In 1993, Nutriset was the first company to produce ready-to-dilute therapeutic milks—F-100 and F-75—which were designed to treat severe acute malnutrition.
In 1996, Nutriset created Plumpy’Nut®, the first RUTF (Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food). A paste equivalent to F-100 milk, this product with no need for preparation has allowed simultaneously increasing the number of children cared for and the healing rate.
Since 2007, RUTFs have been recommended by a joint declaration of the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the WPF (World Food Program) in the context of a Community-Based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM).
From RUSF to LNS: innovative products for preventing malnutrition
Since 2006, Nutriset has launched new products aiming primarily to prevent the different forms of malnutrition, including: Plumpy'Sup™ (formerly, Supplementary'Plumpy®), Plumpy’Doz™, Plumpy’Soy™, Enov'Nutributter®, Grandibien® and QBMix®.
These RUSF (Ready-to-Use Supplementary Food) or LNS (Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplement) products compensate for a lack of macro- or micronutrients in the traditional diet of beneficiaries. They are used after the recommended period of breastfeeding only (up to six months) in addition to customary food (mother's milk and food diversification products).
Innovate in a sensible way: include nutrition in issues concerning water, sanitation and hygiene
Fight acute diarrhea
Because acute infantile diarrhea, the second leading cause of mortality in children under five, is an aggravating factor in malnutrition, Nutriset has joined forces with Rodael Pharmaceutical Laboratories to create ZinCfant®, dispersible zinc sulfate tablets used in combination with oral rehydration salts (ORS). The administration of ZinCfant® reduces the duration and severity of diarrhea episodes in children and prevents their recurrence up to three months after treatment.
Created in 2000, ZinCfant® is recommended by WHO and UNICEF.
Provide access to drinking water
When natural catastrophes and humanitarian emergencies occur, during health crises and epidemics, for displaced persons in refugee camps and for those who live in rural or isolated areas, providing access to drinking water is essential in preventing malnutrition because of its direct impact on infectious diseases, in particular diarrhea.
Preparing the future: promoting plant raw materials
In a context where raw materials have become the object of speculation even through their availability is vital for hundreds of millions of individuals, Nutriset Group R&D and Tweed teams are exploring nutritional and food solutions for tomorrow that can be made available to the greatest number in developing countries, in particular through the nutritional promotion of certain plant raw materials. Demographic growth on our planet will make it difficult, if not impossible, to provide everyone with a supply of animal protein. Faced with this impasse, it is imperative to start work now on new raw materials of diversified origins that are more available and less expensive and transform them in a way that improves their nutritional value. The promotion of these raw materials is also a way to diversify the outlets for local producers in developing countries and consequently create new activities and jobs.
Nutriset works on developing new industrial processes that will improve nutrient quality and reduce the antinutritional factors of certain plant raw materials (soy, corn, rice, millet, lentils, chickpeas). To achieve this, Nutriset teams are transforming existing products so that they can be manufactured with raw materials other than peanuts; the use of chickpeas or other plants would lead to easier product acceptance by targeted populations.