Nutribun
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Nutribun, also referred to as Nutri-bun or Nutriban, is a bread product used in elementary school feeding programs in the Philippines to combat child malnutrition, initially as part of the
United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 b ...
(USAID)'s Food for Peace program from 1971 to 1997, and later as part of the child health programs of various Philippine cities. The base bread of the original 1971–1997 program was designed at the
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six regi ...
between 1968 and 1970. It was made of a wheat blend flour and non-fat dried milk donated by the United States under the PL 480 Title II Food Aid.


Development

Nutribun was developed by a team of
nutritionist A nutritionist is a person who advises others on matters of food and nutrition and their impacts on health. Some people specialize in particular areas, such as sports nutrition, public health, or animal nutrition, among other disciplines. In many ...
s and agrarian experts at the
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six regi ...
between 1968 and 1970 and "was designed as a convenient 'ready-to-eat complete meal' for public elementary school feeding programmes to combat child malnutrition in the Philippines." In addition to requiring the bread to be well fortified with nutrients, USAID also requested that the product be easy to augment using local ingredients, such as moringa leaf powder ("malunggay"),
squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...
, banana powder and eggs in the Philippines.


Ingredients

The 'base' of the bread is made from a blend of white and
whole wheat flour Whole-wheat flour (in the US) or wholemeal flour (in the UK) is a powdery substance, a basic food ingredient, derived by grinding or mashing the whole grain of wheat, also known as the wheatberry. Whole-wheat flour is used in baking of breads ...
mixed with
yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...
and a non-fat dried
milk powder Powdered milk, also called milk powder, dried milk, or dry milk, is a manufactured dairy product made by evaporating milk to dryness. One purpose of drying milk is to preserve it; milk powder has a far longer shelf life than liquid milk and do ...
, although banana flour and coconut may also be used. In the Philippines, the bread may be fortified with
soy The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and ...
flour as a protein source, or – as reported in 2019 – moringa leaf powder, squash, eggs, sugar, and salt may be used as main ingredients, with attention given to flavor and texture to avoid
organoleptic Organoleptic properties are the aspects of food, water or other substances that create an individual experience via the senses—including taste, sight, smell, and touch. USDA uses In traditional U.S. Department of Agriculture meat and poul ...
problems. The wheat, milk, soy, moringa, and egg ingredients supply micronutrients, such as
calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar t ...
,
iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...
, and
B vitamins B vitamins are a class of water-soluble vitamins that play important roles in cell metabolism and synthesis of red blood cells. Though these vitamins share similar names (B1, B2, B3, etc.), they are chemically distinct compounds that often coexi ...
. The bun is made with
iodized salt Iodised salt ( also spelled iodized salt) is table salt mixed with a minute amount of various salts of the element iodine. The ingestion of iodine prevents iodine deficiency. Worldwide, iodine deficiency affects about two billion people and is t ...
as a means of supplying iodine and
sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable ...
to the diet. Each bun weighs 80 grams and contains 400 calories.


Distribution

As Ferdinand Marcos' first term as president of the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
neared its end in the late 1960s, the rate of
malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues ...
soared, especially among young children. Faced by a balance of payments triggered by massive campaign-related infrastructure spending, the administration drew upon
Official Development Assistance Official development assistance (ODA) is a category used by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to measure foreign aid. The DAC first adopted the concept in 1969. It ...
(ODA) - in the form of the United States' Food for Peace Program - to start a five year nutrition program, eventually named ''Operation Timbang'', in 1971. Starting in 1972, USAID began providing the Philippine government with thousands of loaves of Nutribun in addition to hundreds of tons of dried milk powder. The Philippine government took advantage of Nutribun's flexible recipe and added domestically produced banana and plantain powder to the list of ingredients. The government took over production of the bread in 1975, though shipments of ingredients still arrived from USAID. The Nutribun was initially developed by scientists as the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University during the late 1960s and early 1970s to overcome childhood malnutrition in the Philippines.
Imelda Marcos Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitacion Trinidad Romualdez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who served as the First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power during the dictato ...
claimed credit for Nutribuns when she had bags, filled with Nutribuns, stamped with "Courtesy of Imelda Marcos-Tulungan Project", even though they were donations by USAID and other local donors.


Impact and eventual phaseout

Nutribun grew in popularity in the country due to its similarity to
pan de sal Pandesal ( es, pan de sal, salt bread, lit. "salt bread") is a staple bread roll in the Philippines commonly eaten for breakfast. It is made of flour, yeast, sugar, oil, and salt. Description ''Pandesal'' is a popular yeast-raised bread in t ...
, which remained the most consumed bread in the island nation. After the introduction of Nutribun and the implementation of a nationwide food distribution program, the rate of malnutrition in the Philippines fell drastically. From 1971 to 1973, severe malnutrition in children was reduced from five percent to less than one percent. The Nutribuns were often distributed before school and were served with milk. Following the decrease in the rate of malnutrition in the Philippines, the program was gradually phased out, with the final batches of Nutribun being distributed in 1997.


Revival

In 2014, the rising cost of food and increase in malnutrition cases in
Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
led to the Nutribun program being reinstated, with the buns going back into limited production. In August 2019,
Marikina Marikina (), officially the City of Marikina ( fil, Lungsod ng Marikina), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 456,159 people. It is loca ...
Mayor Marcelino Teodoro reinstated Nutribun when city officials noticed that some public school students were undernourished, and "offering them Nutribun could provide them with proper nutrition". The
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
also spurred some Filipino communities to put Nutribun back into production. During the pandemic, one Philippine company began by producing 10,000 buns per day, and later increased production to 24,000 buns per day. In July 2020, the Philippines government announced enhancements to Nutribun quality and nutritional value, including better texture and taste by using
squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...
as a primary ingredient and the addition of
iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...
and
vitamin A Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin and an essential nutrient for humans. It is a group of organic compounds that includes retinol, retinal (also known as retinaldehyde), retinoic acid, and several provitamin A carotenoids (most notably ...
.


Nutribun programs in other countries


Jamaica

As of 2012, the government of Jamaica maintained a Nutribun program in which the buns were distributed to schoolchildren.


See also

* Plumpy'nut * Famine relief * Soylent (meal replacement)


References

{{reflist United States Agency for International Development Malnutrition