Food vouchers add fruit and vegetables, 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 program, which
provides vouchers and food checks to more than 8 million
Americans, the Agriculture Department said on Monday.

The proposed 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 proposal brings the WIC Food Packages in line with
current dietary science,” said Peggy Lewis, president of the
National WIC Association.

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.

“This is a deliberative process intended to address the
health and nutrition needs of WIC participants,” said Kate
Coler, a USDA undersecretary in charge of the program.

USDA’s proposal was published on Monday in the government’s
Federal Register and is open to public comment through November
6.