Video The lifesaving peanut paste How ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), a peanut-based paste, is saving millions of children’s lives. UNICEF Home Stories The lifesaving peanut paste UNICEF How a peanut-based paste is saving millions of children’s lives. Its invention in the early 2000s was a revolution in the fight against hunger. As families struggle from the combined impact of conflict, climate change and COVID-19, it’s becoming more important than ever.