WIC Food Packages Policy Options

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides supplemental foods to over 9 million participants. The WIC food packages provide supplemental foods designed to meet the special nutritional needs of low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, non-breastfeeding postpartum women, infants and children up to five years of age who are at nutritional risk. This study describes some of the choices state agencies made as they exercised the flexibility offered during the implementation and describes the resulting food packages.