The Child Nutrition Act requires USDA to annually compile and publish breastfeeding performance measurements. We use this data to monitor breastfeeding trends and to help identify exemplary performance of WIC state and local agencies in breastfeeding and make awards to such agencies.
This report, in the WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study 2 (WIC ITFPS-2)/ “Feeding My Baby” Study analyzes the long-term impact of the USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) by gathering information on caregivers and children over the first nine years of the child's life after enrollment in WIC, regardless of their continued participation in the program.
In 2019, USDA’s Team Nutrition awarded a training grant to the Michigan Department of Education to implement a two-year training program for School Nutrition Managers called E-STAR. E-STAR is intended to improve school meal quality and student perceptions of meal quality. This study examined how the grantee implemented E-STAR, participant engagement, and facilitators and barriers to engagement.
This report, the seventh in the WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study 2 (WIC ITFPS-2)/ “Feeding My Baby” Study focuses on children's dietary intake patterns, eating behaviors, and weight status during the child's 6th year after WIC eligibility has ended. The report also explores whether patterns of WIC participation in early childhood are associated with dietary behaviors and nutrient intakes after WIC eligibility ends.
This is the first study to provide a comprehensive account of the WIC nutrition assessment and tailoring process. The nutrition and breastfeeding assessment process is critical to the delivery of individualized nutrition services and to meeting WIC’s mission. Study findings will inform FNS and WIC state and local agencies about how to enhance service delivery and improve retention of WIC participants.
The Child Nutrition Act, established a new reporting requirement for the WIC program. USDA is now mandated to compile and publish annually, breastfeeding performance measurements based on program participant data on the number of partially and fully breastfed infants for each WIC state and local agency.
These graphics, the latest in a series of annual reports on WIC eligibility, present 2020 national and state estimates of the number of people eligible for WIC benefits and the percentages of the eligible population and the US population covered by the program, including estimates by participant category.
The WIC Food Cost-Containment Practices Study describes the voluntarily approaches state agencies used in 2018 to reduce food costs when selecting and authorizing WIC foods. This study is the second of its kind; the first was conducted by the USDA Economic Research Service in 2003. This report examines how six types of food cost-containment practices are associated with food costs and WIC participant satisfaction, benefit redemption, and food consumption in 12 state agencies.
USDA's nutrition assistance programs touch the lives of one in four American consumers annually and the nutrition education efforts associated with select programs offer a powerful opportunity to fight hunger and improve dietary quality among eligible individuals and families.
The WIC Vendor Management Study: 2015 Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Pilot examined compliance with program requirements and rates of violations among WIC EBT vendors in 2015 and tested a method to identify and measure errors that contribute to improper payments in an EBT environment.