ROUEN, France, April 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- This week the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced the winners of its annual Patents for Humanity Award. Nutriset, a French company, is on the list of businesses, inventors, non-profits, and universities that leverage their intellectual property to tackle global humanitarian challenges.
Nutriset, under the direction of Michel Lescanne, finalized the "original" ready-to-use therapeutic food Plumpy'Nut® in 1996 in partnership with Dr. Andre Briend. Lescanne and Briend sought to tackle the crisis of acute malnutrition that was affecting no less than 25 million children worldwide.
For the first time in the history of humanitarian aid, the lipid-based Plumpy'Nut® delivered complete nutritional supplementation for severely malnourished children in safe, airtight 92 gram packs that were shelf stable for 24 months, and did not cause harmful diarrhea. In 2007, WHO and UNICEF acknowledged Plumpy'Nut as the preferred treatment to cure severe acute malnutrition.
"Nutriset's goal has always been to simplify and improve the treatment of severe malnutrition, while making the solutions accessible to as many children as possible," says Adeline Lescanne, Nutriset's General Director. "The full range of 40 vitamins and minerals that children require to thrive are not easily obtained in the diets of those living in poverty, which is why nutritional interventions are often necessary."
Nutriset founded PlumpyField® in 2005, a network of independent producers who manufacture ready-to-use nutritional solutions in the countries where they are needed most. By sourcing locally, these members help fight malnutrition by contributing to the sustainable social and economic development of their countries.
The patent also ensures that partner factories making Plumpy® products use a state-of-the-art process, following the highest quality standards possible, refined over Nutriset's 28 years in the industry. Innovative research and development of new products to address new target populations continues.
Each year Plumpy® products are procured by UNICEF, the World Food Programme, and other humanitarian aid agencies addressing the nutritional needs of children living in poverty, and who are otherwise food insecure due to conflict, crop failure, or other humanitarian emergency. Last year more than 6 million malnourished children benefitted from the Plumpy' and Enov' ranges that treat different types of malnutrition.
For more information: www.nutriset.fr
Video - http://youtu.be/SsBvqk5fwVM
SOURCE Nutriset
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