10/24/06 WIC considers Fruits & Vegetables

WIC Considers Fruits & Vegetables. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Fresh produce, fruits and whole grains would be added to grocery lists for the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, if a proposed USDA rule change is approved. In August, USDA's Food and Nutrition Service published proposed changes to the Special Supplemental Feeding Program. The proposal largely mirrors the recommendations put forth by the Institute of Medicine in its 2005 report "WIC Food Packages: Time for a Change." The report called on USDA to dramatically revise the make-up of the WIC food packages and to include fruits and vegetables for the first time in the program's 34 year history. Shannon Schaffer, Communications Manager for US Apple says this is a good move. SCHAFFER: What USDA has done to change the WIC program is a great first step but there's still things that need to be done. Schaffer urges everyone to contact the USDA and make a comment. SCHAFFER: We strongly encourage folks in the produce industry to get out there and contact USDA on this issue because it's something that's going to have a large impact on the folks that participate in the WIC program and it's also going to have a great impact on the produce industry itself. What this could mean is up to $600 million dollars in purchase power for fruit and vegetables and it's an important part for the produce industry to get behind. The WIC program serves over 8 million women, infants and children with a yearly budget of over $5 billion. You can contact US Apple through their web site or contact the USDA directly. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.