Every Step of the Way from Edesia Nutrition on Vimeo.
Overview
Edesia is a unique non-profit organization that manufactures specialized ready-to-use foods (RUFs) that change lives. To read more about our story and the people we serve, click here.
Each year millions of "miracle packets" leave Edesia’s Rhode Island factory and are delivered into the hands of malnourished children all over the world by humanitarian aid workers working in the hardest-to-reach and most inhospitable places on the planet.
Edesia currently employs 70 people hailing from over 20 countries.
To achieve our mission to help treat and prevent malnutrition in the world’s most vulnerable populations, Edesia proudly partners with the following organizations:
Our Mission
Edesia's mission is to help treat and prevent malnutrition in the world's most vulnerable populations.
We are committed to easing the heavy burden malnutrition places on our world. We act now because the cost of inaction is too great.
Our Mandates
- Produce high-quality ready-to-use foods (currently Plumpy'Nut (RUTF) ®, Plumpy'Sup (RUSF) ™, Plumpy'Doz™, Enov'Nutributter®, Enov'Mum®) for humanitarian organizations and non-profits.
- Collaborate on research and development to improve distribution systems and optimize the use of ready-to-use Foods.
- Support local producers of ready-to-use foods in the developing world.
- Engage in educational efforts and direct advocacy to raise the profile of global malnutrition in the United States.
Our Approach
Edesia recognizes the complexity of addressing malnutrition globally. Nutrition for young children, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, people living with HIV/AIDS, and other vulnerable populations is part of larger and more complex problems. Addressing education, agriculture, and policy change must also be a part of the solution.
Edesia supplies product for organizations working in emergency situations as well as standard nutrition programming. In recognition that treating the most severe cases is not a permanent solution, Edesia also supplies products for and is an advocate of preventative approaches.
How Navyn Salem, Edesia's founder and CEO, got inspired to take action
In August of 2005, Anderson Cooper traveled with his producers and film crew to Niger and returned with the story of the famine and a "miracle" food called Plumpy'Nut (invented by Nutriset in France) that was saving the lives of severely malnourished children.
In 2007 Navyn Salem watched the 60 Minutes segment from her home in Rhode Island and was so moved by what she saw, she decided to devote all of her time and energies to expanding the distribution and reach of these ready-to-use foods.
In 2009, Navyn founded Edesia, the first manufacturer of Plumpy'Nut in the United States, in partnership with Nutriset. The first packet came off the line in March 2010. This nonprofit factory would eventually make enough lifesaving food to reach over 8 million children in over 50 countries, partnering with USAID, USDA, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, and others.
Anderson Cooper only recently learned of his life-changing impact on Navyn and the malnourished children Edesia has since reached. He was so moved, he sent a personal message to Navyn. It aired (as a surprise) on the evening that Navyn celebrated the launch of her new state-of-the-art factory, in North Kingstown, RI, which is poised to reach over 2 million malnourished children each year.
Providence Journal (10 Dec 2018) Women in Action: Navyn Salem’s war on hunger is saving millions of malnourished children
Don't Stop Us Now: Podcast (23 October 2018) 
Edible Rhody, "A Conversation with Navyn Salem, Founder and CEO of Edesia" (21 March 2018):
What does "Edesia" mean?
Edesia is the Roman Goddess of food who presides over banquets. Mythology states that she ensured that feast went well and food was excellent. Her name comes from the Latin verb edes, which means "to eat."
Plumpy’Nut®, Plumpy'Sup™, Plumpy'Doz™, Enov'Nutributter®, Plumpy'Mum™, and Enov'Mum® are registered trademarks of Nutriset.
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