Why are 400,000 boxes of food for malnourished kids stuck in the US?

A Rhode Island nonprofit that manufactures lifesaving peanut paste called Plumpy’Nut to feed severely malnourished children has 123,188 boxes of the product sitting in its warehouse. Down in Georgia, another company that produces a similar paste has around 300,000 boxes sitting on its dock. The boxes, which are meant to go to countries including Sudan and Somalia, have been stuck there since February. The U.S. Agency for International Development, once the world’s biggest development agency and food aid donor, funded half of the world’s supply of these fortified pastes, known as ready-to-use therapeutic food, or RUTFs. Much of it was produced by these two U.S.-based companies. Each box constitutes treatment for at least one child, says Mark Moore, co-founder and CEO of Mana Nutrition, the Georgia nonprofit. The only obstacle to getting them out of the warehouse and onto a ship is getting their USAID transportation contract signed. For the Rhode Island nonprofit Edesia — which has received almost 80% of its funding from USAID in previous years — that signature needs to come from Jeremy Lewin, a 28-year old DOGE staffer who helped dismantle USAID and now heads what is left of the agency while serving as acting director of the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance. Navyn Salem, Edesia’s founder and CEO, has been chasing that signature for months. She tells Devex that Lewin has now agreed to a meeting. But for now, her factory, which is decorated with American flags as well as the faces of children the organization helps, is largely empty. “Normally, it’s like a highway here,” said Salem as she looked at Edesia’s sparse packaging center on Monday afternoon. The Trump administration’s decision to effectively stamp out USAID has left Edesia struggling to complete orders from fiscal year 2024 because the freight forwarding agent that ships their product overseas has not received confirmation that USAID will pay out what it owes the company. “I never knew this needed to happen,” said Salem of the signature. “It would just happen. It’s only now when things stop that you start to investigate.” “They terminated everybody, almost everybody at USAID,” she added. “And when you don't have any employees, then you can't actually do basic day-to-day operations.” Due to U.S. foreign aid cuts and payment delays, in March, Edesia also had to cut 10% of its staff, or 16 people. The U.S. government will not be renewing a single contract with the company for fiscal year 2025, according to an email from USAID reviewed by Devex — meaning that beyond the problem of the 123,188 stranded boxes, the company’s future is far from certain. The same is true for Mana. That comes on top of the fact that Food for Peace — the USAID-administered program that for decades has bought surplus food from U.S. farmers and donated it across the world — is slated to be eliminated under the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2026 budget request. The program is critical to both Edesia and Mana, as it funds much of their operations. Salem originally launched Edesia in Tanzania in 2007, but set up shop in the U.S. about 15 years ago at USAID’s request. “The only reason that we started a second factory here in the U.S. is because USAID asked for it,” she said. “They wanted a presence in the United States so that we could buy all of our commodities from U.S. farmers. That was the whole origin.” Calling on Congress From the start of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 90-day foreign aid freeze and review in January, Salem has been unusually vocal. She’s been in the news almost every day: She has spoken to Fox News, appealed to members of the U.S. Congress, and engaged in an exchange with billionaire Elon Musk on his social media platform X. Now, Salem is hoping Congress will come through. On April 29, Rep. Seth Magaziner, a Democrat from Rhode Island, vowed to speak on the House floor every day until federal funding is restored for RUTFs. On his first day of speaking, he called the cuts keeping RUTFs from being shipped abroad a “moral failure” and said that he will be “taking to the floor of the House of Representatives on each day we are in session to speak out against the Trump administration’s failure to restore funding to save the lives of malnourished children around the world.” Salem said that Congress has the power to change the current trajectory, but if it doesn’t act, organizations providing this lifesaving fortified food face an uncertain future. “With USAID shut down, the humanitarian food aid supply chain is in limbo,” Salem said. “Edesia’s demand has stalled, our suppliers are laying off staff, halting raw material stock, and reselling inventory once committed to our production. We now face the potential loss of over $662,000 in premix alone — critical nutrition inputs that may expire.” “This uncertainty is costing more than resources; if orders don’t resume soon, our ability to fight global malnutrition is at serious risk,” she added. Meanwhile, in response to questions from Devex, a State Department spokesperson said shipping contracts for the RUTF boxes “are signed” and that its “partnerships with MANA and Edesia are active and have been since March 2.” The spokesperson did not clarify why they gave that date. “During the Foreign Assistance Review, USAID and the State Department found many opportunities for improvement, including ensuring that contracting for production and shipping is done in a more streamlined way,” the spokesperson added. Limited shelf life The RUTF packets called Plumpy’Nut are a type of fortified paste for malnourished children that come in what looks like a ketchup packet. They are typically shipped within 60 days and have a shelf life of around two years. However, Salem said that Plumpy’Nut must leave Rhode Island within four months due to a lack of warehouse space. They are now redirecting some of their products to New York, where rent is higher. Mana is dealing with the same wait. “We’re burning the shelf-life uselessly here in America,” Moore said. “We don’t want to wait until it only has one year left.” Once it’s in the field, the product takes additional time to reach the children who need it at treatment clinics. Edesia has already received $25 million of its FY 2024 contract, which was previously appropriated by Congress. But it is still waiting on the final $7 million, although Salem thinks that it will come through. Edesia has received more U.S. government payments in the last weeks and days. In the meantime, RUTF shortages around the world are imminent. Ethiopia and Nigeria could run out as soon as this month, according to UNICEF, leaving tens of thousands of children experiencing severe acute malnutrition and unable to access treatment. Fear for the future The Trump administration has cut more than 80% of USAID-funded programs in pursuit of efficiency and ensuring U.S. foreign policy fits its “America First” vision. But as far as U.S. foreign aid programs go, one might think Edesia and Mana’s missions would resonate with even the most staunch of conservatives. Manufacturing of Edesia and Mana’s peanut paste is funded through Food for Peace, a USAID-administered program that works with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and procures food produced by U.S. farmers. The two nonprofits source 100% of their product ingredients — vegetable oil, dairy, sugar, peanuts, soy, vitamins and minerals, and packaging materials — from at least 24 states. Many of those commodities are grown in Republican strongholds that have a high concentration of farmers. In 2023 alone, Food for Peace bought $713 million in American commodities. Food for Peace also requires a portion of those goods to be shipped abroad on U.S.-flagged vessels, boosting support for the country’s maritime industry. It’s not a perfect arrangement: Food for Peace is often criticized for its costs, as sourcing food from the U.S. and paying American vessels to ship it abroad is typically more expensive than sourcing food from local farmers closer to food-insecure communities. Despite the criticisms, the benefit to American farmers, communities, and companies usually created healthy bipartisan support for the decades-old program. Because of that, there’s hope that Congress will push back on Trump’s latest budget request, which would eliminate the entire $1.6 billion budget for Food for Peace. But until the final numbers come through, it’s not clear exactly where the program will land, placing companies such as Edesia and Mana — and the people they help — at risk. In addition to trying to figure out how to get the existing boxes of food aid to children in need, Salem and Moore are also worried about what will happen now that their U.S. government contracts are ending. Edesia and Mana typically bid for USAID projects and win contracts to fulfill them. Devex reviewed an email from USAID that both Edesia and Mana received in early April, saying that there are no upcoming contracts. The email lists 10 countries for which RUTFs — along with a related product, ready-to-use supplementary food, or RUSFs — either “will not move forward at this time” or are “canceled.” The countries are Bangladesh, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Somalia, and Yemen. “In summary at this time, we do not have any upcoming demand,” the email says. Salem and Moore said that U.S. farmers they work with are calling her asking her what to do. “I have found them to be a bit nervous about being viewed as criticizing the administration,” Moore said. “So there’s not an outcry yet.” He added that for many of these farmers, losing Edesia and Mana’s contracts could cause them to lose about 5% of their business. “They really should be upset,” Moore said. “But I think they have been a little asleep.” Still, Salem said that some farmers have joined events in Washington, D.C., to explain the interruptions to supply chains, but the big farm lobbies are keeping quiet. Trump received more support from farming-dependent counties than he did in 2020, earning an average of 77.7% of the vote. Furthermore, the agribusiness sector donated over $24 million to the Trump campaign for 2024. For now, Salem is focused on working with Congress in the hopes that Edesia’s lifesaving food can continue being made. She said that the company is preparing to pivot more of its operations to a slightly different product called Nutributter, which is a smaller packet focused on preventing severe hunger. Nutributter costs $15 to deliver six months’ worth of daily supplements. For example, the Bezos family recently donated $500 million to UNICEF’s Child Nutrition Fund — creating an opening for Edesia to collaborate, Salem said. Moore said that they “are not panicked about complete collapse” but that their “ambitious plans to feed kids are on pause.” The next question will be how the global system absorbs a shock like this. “What happens when a partner like the U.S. just steps out and doesn’t fill their responsibilities?” he asked. “It’s a big deal.” Elissa Miolene contributed reporting to this story. Update, May 14, 2025: This story has been updated with a response from the State Department and a clarification on the Bezos family’s donation to UNICEF.