As the name suggests, the WIC (Women, Infants, Children) Program was
\ndeveloped to protect the health of low-income pregnant and post-partum
\nwomen, infants, and children up to age 5. The program provides
\nparticipants with vouchers that are used to purchase specific foods that
\nare identified as being nutritious. More than nine million people
\nreceive WIC benefits each year. WIC is administered by the USDA, which
\nissued a final rule on food packages on February 28.<\/p>\n
One important change for vegans and others avoiding dairy products is
\nthat medical documentation is no longer needed for program participants
\nto get vouchers for soy beverages and calcium-set tofu in place of cow\u2019s
\nmilk. Of course, not all states allow soy milk or tofu to replace cow\u2019s
\nmilk but for those that do, it will be easier for this substitution to
\ntake place. As of 2011, 71% of state agencies allow soy milk to replace
\ncow\u2019s milk and 40% allow tofu to replace cow\u2019s milk.<\/p>\n
Other positive changes include:
\n\u2022\tPreviously, the only kind of tofu that was allowed was tofu that had
\nbeen prepared using only calcium salts. This kind of tofu is not
\navailable in many marketplaces. The new rules allow tofu that is
\ncalcium-set but which contains other coagulants like magnesium chloride.
\nState agencies are encouraged to choose brands of tofu with the highest
\namounts of calcium to be included on their lists of foods approved for
\npurchase with WIC vouchers.
\n\u2022\tRefried beans, without added sugars, oils, fats, vegetables, or meat,
\nhave been added to the list of allowed legumes.
\n\u2022\tWhole wheat pasta has been added to the list of whole grain options.
\nOther whole grain options include brown rice, bulgur, barley, oatmeal,
\nor corn or whole-wheat tortillas as well as whole-wheat bread
\n\u2022\tWIC participants can receive vouchers to purchase fruits and
\nvegetables. The value of these vouchers has been increased from $6 per
\nmonth to $8 per month for children. Women are given $10 per month for
\nfruit and vegetables purchases.
\n\u2022\tState agencies are required to allow organic fruits and vegetables to
\nbe purchased. In the past, some states did not allow organic products to
\nbe purchased with WIC vouchers.
\n\u2022\tFresh bananas can be used in place of some of the jarred baby food.
\n\u2022\tStates are given the option of allowing families with 9-11 month old
\ninfants to purchase some fresh fruits and vegetables in place of some
\njarred baby food.<\/p>\n
Implementation of these changes will begin May 1, 2014.<\/p>\n
The Vegetarian Resource Group was one of more than 7,000 groups and
\nindividuals who submitted comments to the USDA recommending specific
\nchanges to the WIC Program. We are delighted to see that many of the
\nsuggestions we made were implemented, including removal of the
\nrequirement for medical documentation in order to get vouchers for soy
\nmilk or tofu and increased dollar amounts for fruit and vegetable purchases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the name suggests, the WIC (Women, Infants, Children) Program was developed to protect the health of low-income pregnant and post-partum women, infants, and children up to age 5. The program provides participants with vouchers that are used to purchase specific foods that are identified as being nutritious. More than nine million people receive WIC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5205"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5206,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5205\/revisions\/5206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}