Stephanie Grunenfelder, Vice President, International Marketing of the American Peanut Council (APC), was first introduced to GCNF through the Alliance to End Hunger where both organizations are members. She became an instant friend, understanding the synergy between both organizations’ work in school feeding program operations. Ms. Grunenfelder attended GCNF’s 2009 Global Child Nutrition Forum in Stellenbosch, South Africa where she saw the benefit that the Global Forum holds for government leaders. As a result, Ms. Grunenfelder facilitated a $30,000 grant to GCNF from the APC to support the participation of country leaders in the 2010 Global Child Nutrition Forum in Accra, Ghana.
APC launched Peanut Butter for the Hungry, an initiative of the commercial peanut industry in the United States to help malnourished children in places where resources are limited. Peanut Butter for the Hungry encourages the use of their “ready-to-use therapeutic food” (RUTF) which replaces liquid milk with protein-rich peanut butter and powdered milk, resulting in a shelf stable and transportable product allowing aid workers to treat malnourished children in a completely new way. Instead of checking into hospitals, children are fed at home by their mothers, using the ready-to-use food product. No water is needed, so the food stays bacteria free, and does not need to be refrigerated.
One of the goals of the Initiative is to provide local infrastructure and build capacity in targeted regions, by encouraging the development of local production facilities in the countries where the product is being used. School feeding programs provide a viable market for the product. Other laudable goals include technical support for local manufacturers in such areas as food safety, manufacturing processing; assistance to farmers in needy regions who are growing peanuts, as a long term solution for sustainability; and communicating the efficacy and success of peanut based therapeutic foods to aid groups and government agencies such as USAID and the World Food Programme.
APC conducted extensive research to identify countries that have the best prospects for developing peanut-based end product production facilities. The West African countries of Senegal, Mali, Ghana and Burkina Faso, were identified as having the greatest promise.
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