FNS Documents & Resources

The purpose of this memorandum is to clarify the WIC blood lead screening provision reflected in the FY 2001 WIC Appropriations Act.

This memorandum is intended to provide Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children and Commodity Food Program state agencies with guidance for more effective management of these programs in areas where both WIC and CSFP operate.

The WIC program provides a combination of direct nutritional supplementation, nutrition education and counseling, and increased access to health care and social service providers for pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum women; infants; and children up to the age of five years. WIC seeks to improve fetal development and reduce the incidence of low birthweight, short gestation, and anemia through intervention during the prenatal period. Infants and children who are at nutritional or health risk receive food supplements, nutrition education, and access to health care services to maintain and improve their health and development.

WIC provides supplemental foods, nutrition education and access to health care to pregnant, breastfeeding and postpartum women, infants, and children up to age five. Since its inception in the early 1970’s, the program has received fairly widespread support and it has grown in size to serve 7.4 million participants in FY 1998 at an annual cost of around $4 billion.

The purpose of this memorandum is to clarify FNS policy regarding breast milk from a human milk bank as an allowable substitute for WIC-eligible formulas.

The purpose of this policy memorandum is to clarify that women who breastfeed infants that they did not give birth to ("nonbirth mothers"), may be certified to participate in the WIC program as breastfeeding women at state option.

The attached policy memorandum clarifies the requirements WIC agencies must meet to spend federal WIC grant funds on a dietetic supervised practice program or other out-of-service training program for WIC staff and eligible in-kind staff. WIC agencies that incurred WIC-allowable training costs.

PL 103-448 requires coordination between the WIC program and state Medicaid programs that use coordinated or managed care providers under contract or under waiver authority as permitted under the Social Security Act. 

This memorandum provides policy clarification about WIC allowable costs for activities related to immunization promotion in the WIC program.

In compliance with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the Department will not approve future IFBs or contracts that include provisions that erroneously restrict competition for WIC infant formula rebates.