The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposed changes to the WIC food package take an important step forward. These long-awaited changes include the much-needed addition of fruits and vegetables to the WIC food package. This and other proposed changes create a WIC food package that is healthier and more sensitive to the cultural needs of WIC’s diverse population.

The addition of fruits and vegetables will strengthen WIC’s positive role in helping mothers and children reach and maintain a healthy weight and allowing them to make healthy food choices. 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 new additions to the package can empower mothers to choose healthy foods when they did not have such a choice previously.

Unfortunately, USDA imposed budget constraints on itself which prevented it from implementing the full WIC food package as recommended by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). As requested by the USDA, the IOM recommendations were developed with the intent of not increasing the cost of the food package. However, the USDA interpretation of cost-neutrality took a different approach when it drafted the rule. As a result, the USDA proposal gives children aged one to five only three quarters of the amount of fruit and vegetables IOM determined were necessary for a nutritionally sound children’s WIC food package. Nothing in Congress’ mandate to USDA to propose an improved WIC food package necessitated USDA assuming such constraints that prevented the package from being as robust and health affirming as possible.

The Food Research and Action Center will continue to support the implementation of a healthy food package, emphasizing the importance of USDA considering the comments fully, making the necessary changes and quickly moving forward with the process to better serve the eight million women, infants and children in the program.

We will support the improvements in the package. At the same time, to the extent possible within the rule making process, and thereafter in the budget process, we will continue to press to make the WIC food package stronger by urging the investment of more resources for the program.

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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.

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