Proposed Rule to Update WIC Food Packages

WIC Administration, Benefits, and Certification Branch
Policy Division
Food and Nutrition Service
P.O. Box 2885
Fairfax, Virginia 22031-0885

February 21, 2023

Re: Document ID FNS-2022-0007-0001: Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children: Revisions in the Women, Infants, and Children Food Packages

Dear Madams and Sirs:

As co-chairs of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Food and Nutrition Security Task Force, we are writing to strongly support the issuance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) proposed rule to update the food packages for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to better align them with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) and evidence-based recommendations from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). BPC’s Food and Nutrition Security Task Force was established in 2021 with the goal of providing federal policy recommendations to improve food. security and nutrition security through the federal nutrition programs. Its diverse membership includes bipartisan experts in nutrition science and policy, food systems, public health, health care, the charitable food sector, food industry and retail, and more.

In our 2022 policy brief, Strengthening the Child Nutrition Programs, the Task Force recommended a series of proposals aimed at improving nutrition security in the WIC program, expanding program eligibility, streamlining certifications, and strengthening nutrition and breastfeeding supports. Policy options to achieve this goal included:

• Permanently increasing the overall value of the WIC food package to deliver more nutritious foods to participants;
• Aligning WIC food packages with recommendations from NASEM and the latest DGA; and
• Permanently increasing the cash value benefit for fruits and vegetables.

The proposed rule addresses these three policy goals and would make progress toward improving both food security and nutrition security for the more than 6 million low-income pregnant and postpartum women, infants and children who participate in the WIC program each year. The increase in the overall value of the WIC benefit and updated food packages that align with current nutrition science, including the 2017 NASEM recommendations and the latest DGA, and will help maintain WIC’s role as a strong public health nutrition program.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Dan Glickman
Former Secretary
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Bipartisan Policy Center Co-Chair
BPC Food and Nutrition Security Task Force

Ann M. Veneman
Former Secretary
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Bipartisan Policy Center Co-Chair
BPC Food and Nutrition Security Task Force