Dear Mona. I really discourage distributing the RUTF and RUSF, since they are specific therapeutic products and giving them away would confuse the population and especially those few who are in the program. I am afraid that it is a bit late to realize that the expiry date will come, and the most responsible thing would be involving logistics to send them to other areas and partners who might be experiencing shortage and use them faster. UNICEF normally distribute the RUTF and RUSF, so maybe they or WFP can support with the transport and relocation of the supplies. However, it would be useful to know which country and area are we talking about, so the colleagues in ENN can give you, hopefully, more accurate advice. What kind of program, is it integrated? Also, extension of the expiry date can be requested to NUTRISET or any other company doing some lab tests to verify if the product is in perfect condition despite the expiry date. All the best, Óscar

Also, if the program is in Syria or with refugees in Turkey, WFP declared 2 weeks ago that they were running out of funding and had no choice but stop the food security interventions for millions of refugees in that conflict area, they could be also capable of making good use of those in the refugee camps, were malnutrition is rampant.

Dear Mona, I agree with Oscar that other ways of moving these products to where they are needed before expiry may be the best option than letting any of them find their way to normal families. This may cause more problems for them than solving a problem of wastage.

Dear Mona, It would be interesting to understand why there has been such a mis-match between RUTF/RUSF supplies and actual need. There may be useful lessons for the sector in your experience. Warm regards, Marie