Citadel spread

Citadel Spread is a paste made of peanut butter, oil, sugar and milk powder. First developed as a trail food for hikers, a Citadel Spread resembles common ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) formulations, such as Plumpy'nut.

Composition and advantages

A key feature of Citadel Spread is the use of powdered milk in a recipe with no water, making it difficult for bacteria to grow and giving the nutritional advantages of milk with a long shelf life, as demonstrated in a clinical study comparing F100 and Plumpy'nut.[1] Citadel Spread provides a high calorie content of the mixture relative to weight and volume.

Another feature of Citadel Spreads is the low cost of manufacturing, storing, and distribution. These features made formulations like Citadel Spread a practical ready-to-use food.[2]

History

Frank Delfino, former Skippy plant manager and engineer, remembers the Alameda plant producing around 500 cases of a ready-to-use fortified food in the 1960s, using peanut oil with added vitamins and minerals.[3] Skippy proposed a collaboration with the US government to use the product for nutritional needs of children, but the proposal was not adopted.

In 1971, Edward B. Garvey published “Appalachian Hiker: Adventure of a Lifetime”. By the time Garvey published “The New Appalachian Trail (Appalachian Hiker)” in 1997, the vegetarian version of Citadel Spread that uses vegetable oil instead of bacon grease had become a popular hiking trail food in the USA.[4][5]

Applications

Ready-to-use therapeutic foods, which possibly mimic the Citadel Spread recipe, are manufactured for treatment of severe acute malnutrition, as shown in one clinical report.[1] Such formulations support rapid weight gain, supply multiple essential nutrients and are easy for children to eat because they can feed themselves the soft paste from a tear-open individual package. The fortified peanut butter-like paste contains fats, carbohydrates, proteins (macronutrients), vitamins and minerals (micronutrients). Peanut butter is relatively high in calories and an excellent source of vitamin E, B vitamins, dietary fiber and numerous dietary minerals.[6]

See also

• Famine relief
• Pemmican
• List of peanut dishes

References

1. Diop El, H. I.; Dossou, N. I.; Ndour, M. M.; Briend, A; Wade, S (2003). "Comparison of the efficacy of a solid ready-to-use food and a liquid, milk-based diet for the rehabilitation of severely malnourished children: A randomized trial". The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 78 (2): 302–7. doi:10.1093/ajcn/78.2.302. PMID 12885713.
2. A Joint Statement by the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition and the United Nations Children’s Fund. "Community-Based Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition". World Health Organization/World Food Programme/United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition/The United Nations Children’s Fund, 2007. Missing or empty |url= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
3. Krampner, Jon (2013). Creamy & crunchy : an informal history of peanut butter, the all-American food. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231162326.
4. Garvey, Edward B (January 1971). Appalachian Hiker: Adventure of a Lifetime. Appalachian Books. ISBN 0912660015.
5. Garvey, Ed. "The New Appalachian Trail (Appalachian Hiker)". Menasha Ridge Press. Missing or empty |url= (help)
6. "Nutrition facts for peanut butter, smooth style, with salt, 100 g, USDA Nutrient Database". Conde Nast. 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2014.