Project Peanut Butter

Maplewood, Missouri

Our Mission

Across the world, severe acute malnutrition is the largest killer of children under 5 years of age, contributing to nearly half of all childhood deaths (more than 3 million children per year). We produce peanut based ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF) locally in factories in Malawi, Sierra Leone, and Ghana. Our factories are internationally accredited by UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, and the World Food Program, and our product is considered the standard of care worldwide for severely malnourished children. We strive to use as many local ingredients and staff as possible. In addition, we distribute the therapeutic food at our own mobile clinics, where PPB nurses assess children for malnutrition and provide qualifying children with life-saving food at no charge.

Who We Are

In 1999, Dr. Mark Manary moved to Malawi, a hot spot for severe acute malnutrition, for 10 weeks. He used this time to figure out the best way to treat malnourished children in the home. The therapeutic food had to be something that didn't spoil, didn't need to be cooked, was easy to use and could get the job done. Together with colleague Dr. Andre Briend, Dr. Manary began experimenting with various ingredients until he developed the perfect blend to treat malnourished children: peanut butter, powdered milk, vegetable oil, sugar, vitamins, and minerals. Previous treatments were given in hospitals and had 25-40% recovery rates, but with the combination of RUTF and home-based therapy, recovery rates jumped to 95%! The solution was clear, and our life-saving food is now used to save tens of thousands of children worldwide each year.