WIC Approved Food List
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
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).