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USDA updates foods provided through WIC

CHICAGO — Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has announced that USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has finalized updates to the foods prescribed to participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC. These science-based revisions incorporate recommendations from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025.

The announcement follows the efforts to ensure that WIC was fully funded for FY 2024, including an extra $1 billion for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. The Administration was able to secure in total over $7 billion in critical funding to provide nearly seven million pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and young children with critical nutritional assistance they need and deserve.

The WIC food packages are prescribed foods and beverages specifically designed to supplement the foods and beverages participants already consume and fill in key nutritional gaps to support healthy growth and development. FNS proposed changes in November 2022 to align the food packages with the latest nutrition science and support equitable access to nutritious foods during critical life stages. This effort finalizes the changes in consideration of feedback received through public comment.

These improvements to the WIC food packages support fruit and vegetable consumption by increasing the amount provided and the varieties available for purchase. FNS has made permanent a significant boost to the fruit and vegetable benefit provided to WIC participants, providing participants with up to four times the amount they would otherwise receive.

Other enhancements include, but are not limited to:

• Expanding whole grain options to include foods like quinoa, blue cornmeal, and teff to reflect dietary guidance and accommodate individual or cultural preferences.

• Providing more convenience and options within the dairy category, including flexibility on package sizes and non-dairy substitution options such as plant-based yogurts and cheeses and requiring lactose-free milk to be available.

• Including canned fish in more food packages, creating more equitable access to this under-consumed food.

• Requiring canned beans to be offered in addition to dried.

• Adding more flexibility in the amount of infant formula provided to partially breastfed infants to support moms’ individual breastfeeding goals.

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