Development of a Local and Alternative Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) suitable for Community-based Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition

In order to produce a local Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) alternative to Plumpy 'Nut ® commercial, based on dehusked, roasted and pulverized soy and sorghum ingredients, Arthrospira maxima (Spirulina) dried and pulverized, sunflower oil and powdered sugar, based on nutritional specifications suggested by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF) for the RUTF for the treatment of Acute Severe Malnutrition (MAS), a experimental design D-Optimal Design with three variables (sorghum and soy flours, sugar, oil) Of the twenty RUTF formulations generated by the software, thanks to the analysis of the selected response variables for rheological-mechanical and technological instrumental discrimination, are four optimal formulations were hypothesized, subsequently submitted to validation. Moreover, on these creams oxidative stability tests have been carried out, assuming extreme conservation conditions (30 ° C, 40 ° C and 60 ° C, exposure to atmospheric oxygen, without any barrier), typical of developing countries , where this type of product is intended to be used. Two of the four optimal ones were found to be more stable than the others. Furthermore, following a scale up that involved the use of a discontinuous semi-industrial ball mill, sensorial analyzes were carried out on the four optimal formulations, in order to obtain a sensory profile useful for assessing the potential acceptability of creams. Of the four, two, in particular, were more welcome by a trained panel and then by a hundred-person consumer test. Still, on the four optimal creams obtained in the semi-industrial mill, nutritional analyzes were performed on macronutrients and micronutrients. Finally, a bibliographic analysis was carried out on the latest updates on the socio-economic aspects of food supply in developing countries and on the costs of ingredients used.