The Nutrition Assistance Program in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico provides a monthly benefit for food to low-income households that includes both cash and noncash portions. Three-fourths (75 percent) of the benefit must be redeemed for eligible food items through electronic benefit transfer (EBT) at certified retailers. The remaining 25 percent may be redeemed in cash. The entire benefit (both the noncash and cash portions) is to be used only for the purchase of eligible food items.

At the request of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an expert Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee is undertaking a comprehensive review of the food packages used in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to bring the program into alignment with current dietary guidelines. In this letter report, the first of three reports to result from this review, the IOM committee evaluates the 2009 regulation that excluded white potatoes from purchase with the WIC cash value voucher (CVV) and considers whether white potatoes should henceforth be allowed as a WIC-eligible vegetable in the CVV.

This report responds to the requirement of PL 110-246 to assess the effectiveness of state and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals. Direct certification is a process conducted by the states and by local educational agencies to certify eligible children for free meals without the need for household applications. 

This first annual report to Congress describes the activities of the Multi-Agency Taskforce in 2014.