Qualifying WIC-eligible pasta includes whole wheat macaroni or other pasta shapes meeting the Food and Drug Administration standard of identity with no added sugar, fat, oil or salt.

added this product to the final list of alternatives to whole wheat/whole grain bread. Whole wheat pasta was requested as well, and the F.N.S. said it received 310 comments looking for an expanded list of alternative whole grain products, including the requests for whole wheat English muffins and bagels. Other whole grain options besides bread were allowed for WIC in the interim rule from 2007, including brown rice, bulgur, oats and whole grain barley, as well as tortillas.

believes that this situation has been addressed and the maximum allowance for whole wheat and whole grain bread is unchanged in this final rule.” A greater number of WIC-eligible breads in 16-oz package sizes continue to be introduced by manufacturers, which will further increase the bread options available to participants. “As such, all state agencies have breads in appropriate size packages on their WIC food lists. “Although the availability of bread in package sizes to meet the WIC maximum monthly amount of bread authorized in WIC food packages was of initial concern as state agencies planned to implement the new food packages and supply in the marketplace may have been limited, bread manufacturers have increasingly produced WIC-eligible breads in 16-oz package sizes to respond to the changes in the WIC Program,” the F.N.S. Ultimately the request fell victim to the baking industry’s willingness in recent years to introduce smaller sized packages. The interim proposal capped the package size at 2 lbs (16 oz). did not accept was to increase the package sizes of WIC-eligible whole wheat/whole grain bread allowed to the 20-oz package most popular in the baking industry. said in explaining why it did not adopt the requested change.Īnother proposal the F.N.S. The change would be “complex given the number of products in the marketplace,” the F.N.S. said a number of commenters asked for more baked foods than bread alone to be included such as whole grain English muffins or bagels, so long as they meet the whole grain requirements for bread. received many suggested changes to the interim proposals for whole grains, nearly all the suggestions were turned down.įor instance, the F.N.S.

Wic whole wheat bread