10 minute read
MANA NUTRITION EXPANDS
MANA Expands to Address Malnutrition in the U.S.
by Joy Crosby
Fitzgerald is a small town in South Central Georgia with a population of 8,470. Even though the town is small in population, it is helping feed millions of children. It is home to MANA Nutrition, a nutrition-based company which has helped nearly 5.5 million children since its creation in 2009. The company is predicted to feed an additional 1 million children in 2022 alone.
MANA Nutrition produces readyto-use therapeutic food (RUTF); a fortifi ed peanut paste designed specifi cally to treat children diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition. On average, three packets of MANA per day for six weeks will save the life of a starving child. MANA Nutrition also seeks to spread awareness of severe acute malnutrition and fi nd creative ways to get RUTF to the millions of children who need it each year.
Early Development of RUTF
The fortifi ed peanut paste, made by MANA Nutrition, was developed by Mark Manary, M.D., a pediatrician who currently serves as the Helene Roberson Professor of Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, and a nutrition research team from Doctors Without Borders. In the 90s, Manary spent time in Gambia, New Guinea and Malawi working with malnourished children and studying the traditional method of treating malnutrition at the time, which consisted of hospitalbased care and a milk-based formula.
According to Manary, he was dismayed to fi nd that recovery rates for malnourished children were no better in 1999 than they were when he fi rst worked in Africa in 1985; only about 25-40 percent of children recovered. So, work began to come up with a better solution.
Manary continued to explore home-based therapy options and began working with Dr. André Briend, who worked with the World Health Organization and Nutriset, a French company that produced early versions of RUTF.
Manary and Briend experimented with various ingredients until they created a formula that provided the specifi c, high-quality nutrition severely malnourished children needed to recover. The food became known as Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). RUTF is an energy-dense, peanut butter like paste, but it is more than just peanut butter. It consists of roasted ground peanuts (peanut paste), powdered milk, vegetable oil, sugar, and vitamins/minerals. Peanuts contain mono-unsaturated fats, which are easy to digest, and they are rich in protein and zinc, which is good for the immune system. RUTF’s intended use is for severely malnourished children ages 6 months to 5 yrs.
From 2000 to 2004, the doctors and their small teams tested various formulas with thousands of malnourished children in a series of controlled clinical trials within Malawi. The Georgia Peanut Commission provided funding for some of the initial trials which resulted in 95 percent of the children recovering.
This led to the development of Project Peanut Butter which began producing food in Malawi in 2004. In 2007, the United Nations, World Health Organization, and World Food Programme recognized RUTF with home-based therapy as the standard of care for severely malnourished children worldwide. Today, Project Peanut Butter continues to produce RUTF locally in the countries where the product is needed and uses many local ingredients to support local economies and build stronger communities by providing jobs for farmers, factory workers, administrators, nurses and more.
RUTF Development in the U.S.
While Project Peanut Butter focuses their efforts on development of RUTF within the countries where the need is greatest, there wasn't a facility producing RUTF in the U.S. In steps a former missionary in Uganda and U.S. Senate legislative staff member who learned more about RUTF and the impact the product made in saving children's lives.
Mark Moore, CEO of MANA Nutrition, speaks at the ground breaking ceremony for the expansion of MANA Nutrition in Fitzgerald, Ga.
The individual, Mark Moore, began learning more about RUTF, making contacts, attending peanut meetings and then fi nally visiting the city of Fitzgerald, Georgia. In June 2010, he secured funding to build MANA's facility in Fitzgerald.
MANA operates as a nonprofi t organization. The MANA production and warehouse facility is an 80,000-square foot factory that empowers over 70 people. MANA was built with help from investors around the world.
At its current production level, MANA can produce up to 121,000 pounds per day, which is enough to feed 4,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition for six weeks. The amount produced daily is enough to fi ll four shipping containers of RUTF every day and the product is shipped out at the port of Savannah.
“The fi rst 1,000 days of a child’s life are crucial and can determine that child’s full growth prospects," says Mark Moore, co-founder and chief executive offi cer of MANA Nutrition. "That is why it is critical that we get MANA to starving children today.”
In addition to the RUTF product, MANA Nutrition also produced Ready-to-Use Supplementary Food, Lipid-based Nutrient Supplement and Humanitarian Supply Ration. Each type of packet contains peanut butter but are a different calorie level based on the overall need of the individual consuming the packet.
MANA Nutrition Expansion
In addition to the global need in fi ghting malnutrition, MANA Nutrition is beginning to focus their efforts in fi ghting domestic hunger issues throughout the U.S. To assist with these efforts MANA recently broke ground on an expansion of their facility in Fitzgerald.
With more than $36 million in investment, this is the company’s largest expansion investment to date. MANA will also add 10 new jobs, bringing the company’s employment in the county to 80. "We are excited to watch MANA Nutrition serve communities in need
MANA Nutrition in Fitzgerald, Ga. produces 121,000 pounds per day, which is enough to feed 4,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition for six weeks. In trials, 95 percent of the children recover when fed the RUTF product made with peanuts.
worldwide with products from our state's no. 1 agriculture industry," says Governor Brian Kemp. "We have been laser-focused on creating impactful opportunities across the state, and jobs like these will be good for the local community for years to come.”
The new expansion will increase MANA’s production of ready-to-use therapeutic food three-fold and mark MANA’s fi rst step in addressing malnutrition in the U.S.
“At MANA we are proud to harness two of Georgia’s greatest strengths: people and peanuts, to serve and feed the world. We are proud that our small, rural community is one of the world’s largest suppliers of Ready to Use Food for malnourished children,” Moore says. “This upgrade to our facility will allow us to feed up to 3 million children a year. Hopefully our effort is an inspiration to others who might not have much but can do what they can with what they have to make our world a better place.”
The expansion will help with MANA’s current role of making RUTF for malnourished children across the world and hopefully serve domestic hunger by providing affordable peanut butter in jars to food banks.
“So far we have the ability to make peanut butter, but we can only put it in packets or pouches,” Moore says. “Those packets look like a really big version of a fast-food ketchup packet. Consumers in the U.S. are not used to peanut butter being served in packets so the ability to put peanut butter in a traditional jar is very big for food banks.”
MANA Nutrition will construct a 38,000-square-foot addition to its existing facility at 189 Seaboard Road in Fitzgerald. The expansion will facilitate increased RUTF production and add a new jar line to serve the domestic market.
“Feeding the world from rural Georgia is not a new concept. The manner in which Mana Nutrition is doing it is,” said Jason Dunn, director of the Fitzgerald-Ben Hill Development Authority. “Through the combination of Georgia Grown peanuts and the state-of-the-art production of life-saving therapeutic foods, Mana’s continued investment in Fitzgerald is not only strengthening, but also expanding the reach of Georgia’s ag legacy.”
Moore is thankful for the peanut industry and their willingness to feed the world. "The work you do as peanut farmers, people in the industry, people who work all along that spectrum because it takes us all to make this peanut crop come out," Moore says. "Whether your hands are in the soil or driving the tractor or one of the many that supply the industry, you are changing the world. You are the epicenter of the future of food aid." For more information on MANA Nutrition, visit their website at www.mananutrition.org.
The thirty-fourth annual Georgia Peanut Tour will be held Sept. 13-15, 2022, in Tifton, Georgia, and the surrounding area. The tour brings the latest information on peanuts while giving a fi rst-hand view of industry infrastructure from production and handling to processing and utilization. Tour stops will be made in several peanut producing counties including Baker, Colquitt, Mitchell, Tift and Worth.
Attendees can expect to see fi rst-hand nearly every aspect of peanut production in the state. This year’s tour hosts many exciting stops including on-farm harvest demonstrations and clinics, as well as, research at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus.
The tour kicks off this year with the Hot Topics Seminar on Sept. 13 at 3 p.m. at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus Conference Center, Tifton, Georgia. The seminar topics include an update on the 2022 Georgia peanut crop and a special focus on afl atoxin.
The Georgia Peanut Commission, University of Georgia-Tifton Campus and Griffi n Campus, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service National Peanut Research Lab coordinate the tour.
Hotel accommodations can be made at the Hilton Garden Inn, Tifton, Georgia by calling 229-3828484. Rooms are available at the rate of $130 plus tax for a standard room. Breakfast is included. Be sure to ask for the 2022 Georgia Peanut Tour room block when making a reservation. The room block deadline is Aug. 23, 2022.
Visit georgiapeanuttour.com to register and view tour schedule. The early bird registration rate is $125 prior to Aug. 5, 2022. For more information, contact Hannah Jones at 229-386-3470 or via email at hannah@gapeanuts. com.
During the 2019 Georgia Peanut Tour, attendees were able to see how peanuts are harvested at Chase Farms in Oglethorpe, Ga.
The Georgia Peanut Commission is hosting a photo contest through Oct. 1, 2022, featuring peanut farm families to fi ll the pages of the 2023 Georgia Peanut Calendar. Photos will also be selected to be used in various promotional projects by GPC throughout the year. Farmers from across Georgia are encouraged to submit their best high-resolution photo of their family on the peanut farm throughout the growing season. Winning entries will be selected for each month of the calendar, as well as the cover page. Below are tips to consider when selecting a photo to enter: • Make sure the photo is not offensive and avoid photos with large, easy to read corporate logos. • Think about the months of the year and select photos that represent them. For example, land prep work in the winter, planting in the spring, irrigation in the summer and harvest in the fall. • Make sure photos are taken in horizontal format, so they will fi ll the entire page of the calendar. • Showcase your family (young and old) and what being a Georgia peanut farmer means to you. • Choose a photo you feel helps others understand more about how you care for the crop they love.
Photo entries must be taken during the 2020, 2021 or 2022 peanut crop year and feature peanut production. Entries must also be high resolution (300 dpi), horizontal and not taken with a phone; otherwise, they may be disqualifi ed.
Please submit photos in .jpg format and submit them with the online entry form provided on www. gapeanuts.com by Oct. 1, 2022, for consideration. Winning entries will be entered for a chance to win a Visa gift card. Visit www.gapeanuts.com for complete details.
