FRAC: Statement on Release of the New WIC Food Package

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jennifer Adach, 202.986.2200 x3018

STATEMENT BY FRAC PRESIDENT JIM WEILL
ON THE RELEASE OF THE NEW WIC FOOD PACKAGE
DECEMBER 5, 2007

Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released the revised and updated WIC food package. For the eight and a half million women, infants and children served by WIC, these long-awaited improvements in WIC are an important step forward. The one shortcoming is that, by self-imposing cost restraints, the Administration left the recommendations short of the full healthy good package recommended by the Institute of Medicine.

The addition of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables strengthen WIC’s role in reducing obesity and improving nutrition. This will help nutritionally vulnerable children form healthy eating habits from an early age. Preventing obesity and teaching proper nutrition are a concern for all parents; the supplemental food provided through the reforms in the package can empower mothers to choose healthy foods when they did not have such a choice previously.

The next step is to make sure that these changes work “on the ground,” including in communities where accessing healthy food often raises unique challenges. We need to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders to help implement these changes state-level. WIC advisory councils, for example, are needed to make sure that states, retail vendors, and – most important – clients benefit fully from the new food package.

The Food Research and Action Center will continue to support the implementation of a healthy food package to better serve the women, infants, and children that will benefit from these changes.

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The Food Research and Action Center (www.frac.org) is the leading national organization working for more effective public and private policies to eradicate domestic hunger and undernutrition.