USDA TO EXPAND COMMODITY PROGRAM TO FIVE NEW STATES

WASHINGTON, December 14, 1999 – Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved the expansion of the Commodity Supplemental Food Program into five new States -- Texas, Ohio, 
Vermont, Montana, and Mississippi.

Secretary Glickman said the expansion will make CSFP available in a total of 23 states and on two Indian reservations, and will allow it to serve 20,000 people who have not previously had access to the program. CSFP currently serves about 394,000 people.

“The Commodity Supplemental Food Program is an important source of supplemental nutrition for women, infants, children and elderly people,” Glickman said. “This expansion means CSFP can provide better nutrition and better health for more 
Americans than ever before.”

Shirley R.Watkins, Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, said the expansion is effective January 1.

“We’re delighted to be bringing five new states into CSFP, and to be able to do it quickly,” Under Secretary Watkins said. “This program fills an important role in helping to ensure that a nutritious diet is available to those who might otherwise be unable to meet their nutritional needs.”

Watkins explained that through CSFP, the Department of Agriculture provides food packages to supplement the diets of specific population groups that are likely to be at nutritional risk, including low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, 
infants, children under 6 years old, and elderly people age 60 or older. The program also provides funds to help states administer the program.

Other than the elderly, the population served by CSFP is similar to that served by USDA's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). CSFP provides food rather than the food vouchers that WIC participants receive. Eligible people cannot participate in both programs at the same time. 

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