Food vouchers add fruit and vegetables but cut milk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fruits, vegetables and whole grains
will be added to the grocery list of items covered by the U.S.
government’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program that
provides vouchers and food checks to more than 8 million
Americans, the Agriculture Department said on Monday.

The changes, the WIC program’s first major overhaul since
it was implemented in 1974, will now include these items while
paying less for milk, eggs and juice.

USDA said the changes were needed to better meet science
and dietary guidelines issued in recent years showing the
growing obesity epidemic in the United States. The new WIC
proposal is based on recommendations by the Institute of
Medicine, which was assigned to review the program in 2003 by
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service.

“This is significant rule making we hope will better
address the health and nutrition needs of the WIC population,”
said Susan Acker, a spokesman with the Food and Nutrition
Service.

The proposed changes to WIC would reduce milk, for example,
to 2.1 cups a day for children and post-partum women from 3.2
cups. The amount of eggs covered for children, pregnant and
partially breast-feeding women would be cut in half from its
current level of 2 to 2-1/2 dozen per month.

Some industry groups said the cuts were too severe and
deprived mothers and their children of necessary nutrients.

“Eggs provide several nutrients…which play an important
role in the health of the women and children enrolled in WIC,”
said Donald McNamara, executive director of the Egg Nutrition
Center.

“A reduction in eggs would make it more difficult for WIC
participants to meet their nutrient needs,” he said.

The government’s WIC program provides an estimated $35 per
month to qualifying low-income pregnant women, infants and
children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk. The money can
be used to purchase baby formula and certain foods.