WIC: Food Package

No, you do not need to call your local WIC office to update your food package.

If you have any questions, contact your local WIC clinic.

Federal regulations require the USDA to review the WIC food packages every 10 years to make sure they reflect the latest nutrition science, health concerns, and cultural food choices.

USDA is committed to ensuring current nutrition science informs federal nutrition program standards, and updating the WIC food packages is a key part of that effort.

The changes provide individualized food benefits for breastfeeding participants by:

• Providing important nutrients that breastfeeding individuals need by offering fish, more fruits and vegetables, and more whole grains.
• Supporting individual breastfeeding goals with supplemental feeding flexibility for partially breastfed babies.

The changes give WIC participants more flexibility, variety, and choices. They build on current options for cultural and personal preferences while ensuring WIC foods provide key nutrients. These changes include:

• More whole grain choices, to meet different tastes and wheat allergies.
• Lowering the age at which parents and caregivers can substitute jarred infant fruits and vegetables with a dollar amount to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from nine months to six months.
• Changes to support clients with cultural or personal preferences, limited cooking space, or special dietary needs such as food allergies or intolerances.

By law, WIC is designed to supplement diets and provide nutrients for healthy growth and development. It fills in nutritional gaps based on what participants already eat.

Research shows that child and adult participants are already getting enough juice in their diet, and the amounts in the old food packages were more than the recommended daily limit.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend eating more whole fruits and vegetables, especially for young children, to help increase their fiber intake. To align with these recommendations, Wisconsin WIC replaced the juice benefit with an additional $3 fruits and vegetables benefit. Participants can substitute juice for the additional $3 fruits and vegetable benefit upon request.

We've added 6 ounces of fish in cans or pouches to food packages for children (ages 1–4), which aligns with recommendations that children should eat 1–1.7 ounces of low mercury fish per day. Tips to redeem 6 oz of fish:

• Use the MyWIC app to search for pouches by typing ‘Pouch’ in the food search field and selecting ‘Fish’ for the category.
• Buy two smaller pouches. Many tuna pouches are available in 2.5–2.8-ounce sizes in a variety of flavors.
• If you buy one larger 6-ounce packages, you can make multiple servings.

We've also added 10 ounces of fish in cans or pouches to food packages for pregnant and postpartum people, and 15 ounces for partially breastfeeding people. The amount for fully breastfeeding people has been adjusted from 30 to 20 ounces.