USDA Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Vendor Criteria: An Examination of US Administrative Agency Variations
| Author(s) | Landry, Matthew J. | |
| Author(s) | Phan, Kim | |
| Author(s) | McGuirt, Jared T. | |
| Author(s) | Ostrander, Alek | |
| Author(s) | Ademu, Lilian | |
| Author(s) | Seibold, Mia | |
| Author(s) | McCallops, Kathleen | |
| Author(s) | Tracy, Tara | |
| Author(s) | Fleischhacker, Sheila E. | |
| Author(s) | Karpyn, Allison | |
| Date Accessioned | 2023-09-28T13:35:28Z | |
| Date Available | 2023-09-28T13:35:28Z | |
| Publication Date | 2021-03-29 | |
| Description | This article was originally published in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073545. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. | |
| Abstract | The food retail environment has been directly linked to disparities in dietary behaviors and may in part explain racial and ethnic disparities in pregnancy-related deaths. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), administered by the United States Department of Agriculture, is associated with improved healthy food and beverage access due to its requirement for minimum stock of healthy foods and beverages in WIC-eligible stores. The selection and authorization criteria used to authorize WIC vendors varies widely from state to state with little known about the specific variations. This paper reviews and summarizes the differences across 16 of these criteria enacted by 89 WIC administrative agencies: the 50 states, the District of Columbia, five US Territories, and 33 Indian Tribal Organizations. Vendor selection and authorization criteria varied across WIC agencies without any consistent pattern. The wide variations in criteria and policies raise questions about the rational for inconsistency. Some of these variations, in combination, may result in reduced access to WIC-approved foods and beverages by WIC participants. For example, minimum square footage and/or number of cash register criteria may limit vendors to larger retail operations that are not typically located in high-risk, under-resourced communities where WIC vendors are most needed. Results highlight an opportunity to convene WIC stakeholders to review variations, their rationale, and implications thereof especially as this process could result in improved policies to ensure and improve healthy food and beverage access by WIC participants. More work remains to better understand the value of state WIC vendor authorization authority, particularly in states that have provided stronger monitoring requirements. This work might also examine if and how streamlining WIC vendor criteria (or at least certain components of them) across regional areas or across the country could provide an opportunity to advance interstate commerce and promote an equitable supply of food across the food system, while ensuring the protection for local, community-oriented WIC vendors. | |
| Sponsor | This research was funded and supported by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The authors of this publication are members of the HER NOPREN WIC Learning Collaborative, jointly supported by Healthy Eating Research (HER), a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), and the Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation Network (NOPREN). NOPREN is supported by Cooperative Agreement No. 5U48DP00498-05 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. A.O. was supported by a NOPREN student stipend. The findings in this report are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the HER, NOPREN, RWJF, or CDC. | |
| Citation | Landry, Matthew J., Kim Phan, Jared T. McGuirt, Alek Ostrander, Lilian Ademu, Mia Seibold, Kathleen McCallops, Tara Tracy, Sheila E. Fleischhacker, and Allison Karpyn. 2021. "USDA Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Vendor Criteria: An Examination of US Administrative Agency Variations" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 7: 3545. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073545 | |
| ISSN | 1660-4601 | |
| URL | https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/33333 | |
| Language | en_US | |
| Publisher | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |
| Keywords | WIC | |
| Keywords | women | |
| Keywords | infants and children | |
| Keywords | Federal Nutrition Assistance Program | |
| Keywords | health food access | |
| Keywords | healthy in-store marketing | |
| Keywords | food policy | |
| Keywords | zero hunger | |
| Keywords | reduce inequality within and among countries | |
| Title | USDA Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Vendor Criteria: An Examination of US Administrative Agency Variations | |
| Type | Article |
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