With USAID targeted, R.I.-based Edesia’s therapeutic food for malnourished children is sitting in warehouses
NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — Rhode Island’s congressional delegation is criticizing the Trump administration for targeting a humanitarian aid agency that funds a North Kingstown nonprofit, which has fed 25 million malnourished children.
Founded in 2010, Edesia Nutrition is a social enterprise that manufacturers a fortified peanut-based paste, Plumpy’Nut, which treats severe cases of malnutrition when children are weeks away from dying.
Named for the Roman goddess of food, Edesia receives between 30 percent and 80 percent of its funding from the United States Agency for International Development each year. In May 2024, USAID announced plans to use $200 million in federal funds to ramp up production of the peanut paste, made at Edesia and a Georgia factory, and deliver it to starving children in places such as Ethiopia, Haiti, and Sudan.
But now Trump and his most powerful ally, billionaire Elon Musk, are targeting USAID, with Musk saying it was “time” for USAID to “die,” thousands of USAID employees being laid off, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio being named acting head of the agency.
Navyn Salem, the founder and CEO of Edesia Nutrition, told the Globe, “We have product sitting in warehouses waiting for decisions to be made, and that correlates directly with young children’s lives.”
She emphasized that the nonprofit focuses on feeding children in the most efficient way possible.
“Our ability to impact the lives of children and families is data-driven, and we welcome the dialogue to improve the systems currently in place,” Salem said. “Food security is national security, and we must fight famines, not families. Children around the world will remember that it was the American people who were the ones who came to their rescue in a time of crisis.”
The four Democratic members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation vowed to fight the attempt to shutter USAID.
“President Trump’s effort to dismantle USAID without congressional approval damages US national security, and it’s immoral and unconstitutional,” US Senator Jack Reed said in a statement.
He said USAID has been effective in reducing conflict, poverty, and disease around the world.
“The agency’s work offers America a strategic foothold and competitive edge over other nations,” Reed said. “Shuttering USAID like this weakens American leadership, damages partnerships with trusted allies, and only creates a vacuum for the Chinese to fill.”
US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said “the richest man in the world” — Musk — is lying about USAID to try to justify “stopping the flow of food and aid to some of the most impoverished people in the world.”
“We are seeing effects at home, with refugee welcome organizations shuttering services and Rhode Island businesses like Edesia suddenly facing major uncertainty,” Whitehouse said. “Democrats will keep fighting the corruption of the Trump administration with every single tool available to us.”
US Representative Seth Magaziner, whose Second Congressional District includes Edesia, said, “Trump and Musk’s attempt to shut down USAID risks a humanitarian tragedy and only serves to strengthen our adversaries.”
USAID accounts for less than 1 percent of the federal budget, Magaziner said, but it saves millions of lives each year by treating disease and malnutrition, and it strengthens US alliances in the developing world.
“If the US were to retreat from USAID, countries around the world would be forced to look toward China, Russia, and other adversarial nations for help, weakening America and putting us at risk,” Magaziner said.
Representative Gabe Amo, who represents the state’s First Congressional District, noted that Edesia produces Plumpy’Nut at its plant at the Quonset Business Park.
“It’s a ready-to-use therapeutic food,” he said. “They have USAID contracts, and this is life-saving stuff.”
On Friday, Amo wrote to Rubio, objecting to the administration’s pause on nearly all US foreign assistance, saying it places international projects supporting health programs, educating children, and providing food assistance in jeopardy.
He asked Rubio to clarify confusion about the limited nature of an “emergency humanitarian waiver” for foreign assistance.
“Aid organizations have reported that they have not received updated guidance from the State Department, forcing them to pause their essential work and consider laying off their staff,” Amo wrote. “For example, organizations that produce and distribute Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food, one of the most effective nutrition treatments for severe malnutrition, are unsure if they qualify for this waiver.”
He called for Rubio to provide a plan and to clarify the confusion by Friday.
Amo cited a ProPublica article that said, “On Friday morning, the staffers at a half dozen U.S.-funded medical facilities in Sudan who care for severely malnourished children had a choice to make: Defy President Donald Trump’s order to immediately stop their operations or let up to 100 babies and toddlers die.”
“This is who we are as Americans,” Amo said. “That’s not rhetoric. That’s not hyperbole. That’s literally what’s on the line when you are making life and death decisions like that.”
Amo said pulling foreign aid from places such as Africa and Southeast Asia will allow China and other nations to fill the void. " This makes America less safe and secure, full stop," he said