This month the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued the Final Rule for changes to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). Read the full National WIC Association press release.
Highlights include; increasing the children’s fruit and vegetable check to $8 a month, allowing parents of 9-11 month olds to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables in place of jarred infant food, adding more whole grain options to include pasta, allowing yogurt, and 1% milk being the standard.
Recent research has indicated that changes to the WIC food packages may be a contributing factor in the decline in obesity rates among 2-5 year olds.
President’s 2015 Budget for WIC provides:
$6.823 billion to serve 8.7 million mothers and young children
$150 million in contingency reserves (a modest increase of $25 million)
Set-asides that are unencumbered and available without meeting caseload needs of $14 million for infrastructure, $30 million for MIS/EBT, and $60 million for breastfeeding peer counselors