Food Package Update Rule Webinar

On Wednesday, November 117, USDA announced a proposed rule to revise the WIC food packages, taking one of the earliest and most substantial steps to fulfill the vision for a healthier America articulated at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. USDA’s proposed rule will make science-based revisions to strengthen WIC’s food benefit in alignment with independent recommendations from the National Academies of Sciences. These updates include making permanent recent increases in WIC’s fruit and vegetable benefit, introducing seafood across child and adult food packages, boosting whole grain intake through stronger cereal standards and new cultural options like blue cornmeal and teff, increased flexibility in dairy by removing barriers to substitution across milk, yogurt, and cheese, and significant package size flexibility and additional substitutions to allow participating families enhanced access to WIC foods. USDA will be soliciting public comments on the proposed rule for 90 days, beginning today and ending on February 21, 2023. NWA has launched a comment platform to streamline the WIC community’s ability to participate in the comment process: https://nwica.salsalabs.org/WICFoodPackageComments/index.html