WIC Changes Pose Danger to Dairy
by Stephen Barlas
The Food and Nutrition
Service (FNS) is about to propose changes in WIC food packages that would
reduce purchases of milk and cheese. That prospect sent representatives of
the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk
Producers Federation (NMPF) to the White House in early June for a meeting with
officials at the office of management and budget (OMB), which has the
authority to force changes in proposed federal regulations before they are
released by an agency such as the FNS, which is part of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture.
Clay Hough, senior vice president and general counsel
at IDFA, expects the FNS proposed rule to hit the streets sometime this
summer.
The proposed changes to the feeding program for Women,
Infants and Children (WIC) have been expected for some time. The FNS
published an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) in September
2003 asking for comments on how the composition of the seven packages, each
serving a different subgroup of young mothers and/or their young children
up to age 5, should be changed in light of changes in the WIC population
and the most current nutritional thinking. The packages consist of milk,
fruit juice, cereal, eggs and meat, and have remained basically the same
over the last 30 years since the WIC program was established.
After receiving comments, the FNS asked the Institute
of Medicine, which is part of the National Academy of Sciences, to produce
a report suggesting changes in the seven food packages. The IOM report
issued in April 2005 suggested changing the packages to emphasize fresh
fruit and vegetables, which have not been included; allowing soymilk to be
substituted for regular milk; and reducing the amount of cheese that can be
substituted for milk.
In explaining its recommendations, the IOM committee
alluded to changes in the WIC population, by mentioning, for example, a
study of women in California with Chinese heritage who “value other
sources of calcium (e.g. dark green vegetables and tofu) more highly than
cheese in the current WIC packages. The report went on to say that some WIC
participants have specific conditions, such as milk allergies and lactose
intolerance. Other WIC participants have diverse preferences, for example,
choosing to avoid milk and other animal products for personal reasons
unrelated to ethnicity or cultural heritage.
The National WIC Association has been a leading
proponent of such changes. Douglas Greenaway, executive director of the
association, says dairy will remain an integral part of the food packages. But he acknowledges that the
USDA and Congress have dictated that any changes have to be cost neutral.
“So in a very difficult budget environment, if the food packages are
going to respond to current dietary science and include fresh and canned
fruits and vegetables and other culturally sensitive foods, there will need
to be some trade-offs,” Greenway says. He notes, though, that the IOM
recommendations don’t imply significant changes for milk consumption,
using as an example food package four, for young children, which the IOM
recommended cutting from 24 quarts of milk a month to 16 quarts.
IDFA and NMPF, however, view the IOM recommendations
as a serious threat to milk and cheese sales. They sent a letter to Eric
Bost, then undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, six
months after the IOM report was published. In that letter, the two groups
questioned “the dramatic reduction in the number of dairy servings
embodied in the recommendations.” They tagged the economic impact of
reduced dairy sales to the WIC program at more than $300 million a year.
Rob Byrne, NMPF’s senior vice president for
scientific and regulatory affairs, says, “Our best educated guess is
the FNS will follow the IOM recommendations closely when it publishes its
proposed rule.”
Stephen Barlas has been a full-time freelance
Washington editor for business and trade magazines since 1981.
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