WIC Approved Food List

views updated

WIC Approved Food List

Document

By: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS)

Date: September 2005

Source: "WIC Approved Food List."Missouri WIC Approved Foods List, 2005–2007(2005).

About the Author: The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) administers the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program for the state of Missouri.

INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutritional assistance program began in 1972 as a two-year pilot program, part of the 1966 Child Nutrition Act. In 1975, WIC became a permanent government program, providing supplemental foods to low-income pregnant women until six weeks postpartum; breastfeeding mothers through the child's first twelve months; infants; and children up to the age of five. WIC was never intended to provide families with 100 percent of food and nutrition needs, but instead it provides nutrition counseling, health monitoring, and foods that meet basic nutrition needs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture administers funds and requirements for the WIC program through the Food and Nutrition Service. Federal funding then reaches the states, and each state manages WIC program administration with more than 2,000 agencies throughout the fifty states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana, and Samoa. In addition, the WIC program reaches thirtyfour Indian Tribal Organizations. In the year 2000, WIC enrollees numbered more than 7.2 million; more than 45 percent of all infants in the United States receive WIC assistance.

The WIC program receives strong congressional and state support; pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and children receive vouchers to use in grocery stores and farmers' markets for targeted foods, while infants who are formula-fed receive an allocated amount of formula per month through the age of twelve months. Because each state administers the program according to state guidelines, there are variations in the program's application; in thirty-seven states, for instance, WIC recipients can receive farmers' market vouchers to purchase fresh produce in lieu of other products from the WIC-approved foods list.

The following example, taken from the Missouri WIC approved foods list, demonstrates the targeted nutrition groups that the WIC program distributes to recipients.

PRIMARY SOURCE

Milk

Allowed

Any brand

Reduce/low fat milk (skim, 1/2%, 1%, 2%)

Whole milk (if printed on WIC check)

Gallon plastic containers only Cultured buttermilk (quart size)

Evaporated milk, store brand only (12 or 13 oz can)

Non-fat, dry milk, store brand only (3 or 8 quart box)

Specialty milk, type and size will be written on the WIC check

Not Allowed

Sweetened condensed milk

Soy milk

Flavored milk

Organic milk

Filled milk

Substitutions

Eggs

Allowed

Medium, white, grade A or AA (1 dozen package)

Not Allowed

Low cholesterol eggs

Organic eggs

Specialty eggs

Brown eggs

Peanut Butter

Allowed

Smooth, creamy or regular, store brand only (18 oz jar)

Not Allowed

Crunchy peanut butter

Low fat peanut butter

Low salt/sodium peanut butter

Organic peanut butter

Mixtures with jams, jellies or honey

Cheese

Allowed

Natural, domestic, plain cheese, store brand only, American, Cheddar, Colby, Colby Jack, Monterey Jack and Mozzarella cheeses (Block cheese in 8, 16 or 32 oz slices only)

Not Allowed

Sliced cheese, except for store brand American

Cheese additives

Deli cheese

Cheese food

Cheese spread

Cheese product

Shredded cheese

String cheese

Cholesterol-reduced cheese

Individually wrapped slices

Flavored cheese

Grated cheese

Dried Beans & Peas

Allowed

Mixed dried beans and peas, store brand only (1 lb bag)

Not Allowed

Organic products

Additives or flavors

Carrots

Allowed

Fresh, including baby or frozen, any cut, any brand (1 or 2 lb package)

Not Allowed

Organic carrots

Flavors

Tuna

Allowed

Water-packed only, chunk, solid or grated, any brand (6 oz can)

Not Allowed

Albacore or white tuna

Reduced or low salt/sodium

Infant Food
Infant Formula

Allowed

Brand printed on WIC check, type and size printed on WIC check

Infant Juice

Allowed

100% juice (32 oz bottle)

Gerber:

Apple

Apple Banana

Apple Cherry

Apple Grape

Mixed Fruit

Pear

White Grape

Beech-Nut:

Apple

Apple Cherry

Mixed Fruit

Pear

White Grape

Nature's Goodness:

Apple

Apple Cherry

Apple Grape

Pear

White Grape

Infant Cereal

Allowed

Plain, dry only (8 or 16 oz)

Gerber

Beech-Nut

Nature's Goodness

SIGNIFICANCE

The average value of WIC vouchers per recipient is $50 per month. This amount is given to each WIC participant in a household; a family with a breastfeeding mother, a four-month-old infant, and a three-year-old child would include three WIC recipients. While infants receive formula and baby food, women and children receive milk, cheese, juice, tuna, carrots, dry cereal, and peanut butter. In some states, such as Pennsylvania, women and children ages four and five can receive $20 per month for use at farmers' markets. A family of four earning $37,000 per year or less can qualify for the WIC program; federal guidelines permit enrollment for families earning less than 185 percent of the federal poverty line.

WIC recipients must report to one of WIC's 10,000 clinics each month to receive the vouchers; children's height and weight are measured and recorded, parents are encouraged to keep their children on immunization schedules, and breastfeeding mothers receive breast pumps in some states and counseling as needed. Critics of WIC claim that in some instances the program reaches too far into the personal choices of parents; parents who choose not to immunize, for instance, have been threatened with disqualification from the program, though keeping children on an immunization schedule is not a requirement for the program. WIC's immunization services, however, aid those parents who do not have ready access to health-care providers in maintaining up-to-date immunization records for their children. Recipients on special diets or with food allergies criticize the program for its inflexibility in the approved food list, which poses an obstacle for affected participants.

Since its inception in 1972, the WIC program has helped to improve birth outcome and to decrease instances of child malnutrition in lower-income populations. According to research studies, child participants in WIC programs have lower rates of iron-deficiency anemia, higher vitamin levels, and higher intake of key nutrients. A 1997 breastfeeding promotion campaign increased breastfeeding rates among mothers enrolled in WIC by 25 percent; WIC experiences a $478 savings per infant when mothers choose to breastfeed exclusively for the child's first three months.

The WIC program is considered by federal, state, and local officials to be one of the most successful food supplement programs in the nation, reaching nearly 4 percent of the population of the United States in any given year.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Richardson, Joe, Donna Viola Porter, and Jean Yavis Jones. Child Nutrition and WIC Programs: Background and Funding. New York: Nova Science, 2003.

Periodicals

Montgomery, D.L. and P. L. Splett. "Economic Benefit of Breast-feeding Infants Enrolled in WIC."Journal of the American Dietetic Association97 (April 1997): 385.

Web sites

USDA Food and Nutrition Service. "WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Programs." March 20, 2006 <http://www. fns.usda.gov/wic/FMNP/FMNPfaqs.htm> (accessed May 30, 2006).

More From encyclopedia.com