U.S. officials announced Tuesday that a federal program to help low-income women and young children access nutritious food will permanently allocate more funding for fruits, vegetables and other critical necessities. .
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, commonly referred to as WIC, provides a monthly grocery allowance to approximately 6.6 million mothers and children up to age 5 in the United States, including approximately 40% of all infants. doing. Rewards are for purchasing specific foods designed to supplement a participant’s diet.
Tuesday’s changes mark the first update to WIC food packaging in 10 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program. This change incorporates recommendations from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and is based on the current Federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
“These participant-centered changes will strengthen WIC by ensuring that the food participants receive reflects the latest nutritional science and supports healthy eating and a brighter future,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. I will do it,” he said.
The amendments finalize the USDA’s proposed rule in November 2022 and make permanent the increased monthly cash vouchers for fruits and vegetables first introduced during the pandemic. This will provide WIC participants with up to four times the amount of fresh food they received before the pandemic.
WIC participants also improve their diets by including more whole grain options such as quinoa and blue cornmeal, non-dairy alternatives such as plant-based yogurt and cheese, lactose-free milk, and canned fish and beans. flexibility to meet the needs and cultural preferences of people. In addition to dried beans.
State WIC agencies often take two years to implement all changes. The fruit and vegetable benefit increase, which all states are currently complying with, must be codified within the next 60 days. Child participants will receive a monthly cash equivalent of $26, pregnant and postpartum participants will receive $47, and nearly exclusively breastfeeding participants will receive $52 to purchase fruits and vegetables .
Georgia Machel, interim president and CEO of the National WIC Association, praised the updated nutrition standards and urged states to implement them quickly.
“At a time when food insecurity is on the rise and food costs are soaring, it is critical that we increase our participants’ purchasing power for healthy foods,” Machel said in a statement. It added that access to vegetables was proving difficult. The top reason participants join her WIC.
This update also includes some reductions, as milk and juice allowances for WIC participants will also be lowered. The USDA said the move makes the diet more balanced and supports the American Academy of Pediatrics’ guidelines on limiting juice intake.
The revised WIC departs from several recommendations made by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. For example, the National Academies recommends that all breakfast cereals be whole grains, but the USDA in its final rule only requires that cereals be at least 75% whole grains. WIC state agencies approve the use of whole grains as the first ingredient. The agency also chose to place limits on added sugars relative to total sugars, including natural sugars, for yogurt and breakfast cereals.
The food package changes come on the heels of the Biden administration setting aside more than $7 billion to fully fund WIC for fiscal year 2024 after the WIC program faced a $1 billion shortfall earlier this year. It was conducted.
Although WIC has a decades-long track record of success in improving health outcomes and health disparities, USDA estimates that only a little more than half of its eligible population actually participates.
USDA Food and Nutrition Service Administrator Cindy Long said she envisions widespread benefits from the new changes to WIC.
“For the 6.6 million mothers, infants, and toddlers who participate in WIC, and the millions more who are eligible, these improvements to our food packaging will have a positive lifelong impact on their health and well-being. “It has potential,” she said. said in her statement.
