Anyone know why SNAP and WIC have different food standards?

[SHRED]

My understanding is that WIC is very strict in their definition of "food". Canned and bottled food for instance cannot contain sugars and must be 100% real food and no "heat & serve" meals whereas the SNAP program allows for all kinds of junk food.

I could assume the giant food corporation lobbyists have something to do with this but...???

ON EDIT: I will add that I believe SNAP needs to match WIC standards and then be fully funded.

[Puzzledtraveller]

1. I've been doing SNAP since 2009

WIC is seperate from SNAP in that it isn't administered by the same agency. Many of my clients will inquire about WIC and all we do is refer them to the WIC office. Our WIC offices are run by contract workers also. As far as program differences I only know about SNAP.

[Jesus Malverde]

2. WIC came from a prescription program to address food caused illnesses,

In 1969,[2] a group of physicians described to the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and the USDA that young women, often pregnant, came to their clinics with various ailments that were caused by a lack of food. The doctors would prescribe needed foods, with the prescription acting as a sort of food voucher. WIC’s program beginnings surface in 1969, when the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health recommended that special attention be given to the nutritional needs of low-income pregnant women and preschool children.

WIC was formally created by an amendment to section 17 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 on September 26, 1972. The legislation (P.L. 92-433, sponsored by Senator Hubert Humphrey (D) of Minnesota) established the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) as a 2-year pilot program. Eligibility was limited to children up to age 4 and excluded non-breastfeeding postpartum women. By the end of 1974, WIC was operating in 45 states. On October 7, 1975, WIC was established as a permanent program (P.L. 94-105). Eligibility was extended to non-breastfeeding women (up to 6 months postpartum) and children up to 5 years of age. However, all participants must be deemed to be at nutrition risk and with inadequate income (however, what constituted inadequate income was not defined). In 1978, P.L. 95-627 defined nutrition risk and established income eligibility standards that were linked to the income standards associated with reduced price school meals. Another income standard change took place in 1989, when P.L. 101-147 established similar income eligibility for Food Stamp, Medicaid, and AFDC participation, thus lowering the WIC income standard and simplifying the application process. WIC began to promote and support breastfeeding women in the late 1980s, and in 1989 Congress mandated $8 million be used specifically for that purpose. Also in 1999, the WIC program standardized nutrition risk criteria for program eligibility and began assigning individual nutrition risk priority levels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIC

The food items provided by WIC are juice (single strength), milk, breakfast cereal, cheese, eggs, fruits and vegetables, whole wheat bread, whole grain items including brown rice and tortillas, fish (canned)(for Exclusively Breastfed Mothers), legumes (dry/canned), and peanut butter. The program also provides tofu, soy milk, and medical foods for children and women with various metabolic or other diseases. Since the white potato was deemed less nutritious than other produce, the WIC commission banned white potatoes from the list, causing protests. Organic fruits, vegetables, legumes and grains are covered under WIC while organic milk, cheese, juice, peanut butter and eggs are not covered under the program.

I don't believe snap has a nutrition requirement only income.

[hedgehog]

3. WIC is aimed specifically at making sure pregnant women, infants and young children

get proper nourishment -

SNAP replaced the surplus food program in which the Agriculture Department bought up commodities and redistributed them.

People of a certain age recall "Government cheese". My school often featured canned prunes on the lunch menu. Under the old system, many counties failed to apply for surplus food, and many people went very hungry.

The SNAP allows people to make their own choices and to purchase a balanced supply of food. Many people do not have the facilities, time or skill to cook "real food" (the working poor often are working 60 hours a week), often they don't have access, either.

[Trekologer]

19. Many people doesn't know the difference between junk food and "real food"

In a previous life, I worked at a supermarket and was in charge of the front end (the cashiers and associated stuff). On more than one occasion, I had to explain to WIC beneficiaries that the reason that items such as Hi-C, "American cheese" singles, and sugar-frosted cereals did not qualify to be purchased because of high sugar content and low nutritional value. In some of the cases, those foods were selected because they taste better, but in many cases, it was because the beneficiary just didn't know better.

In my state (New Jersey), WIC beneficiaries are (or at least were) supposed to receive nutrition counseling which is supposed to instruct the beneficiaries on what the differences between junky foods and better options are and why they are better options. Even after that counseling, there are individuals out there that don't quite understand the difference between, say, orange juice, orange drink (Sunny-D, Hi-C, etc), and orange soda. Couple that with the cost difference, and you will see why they choose the poor option. Nutritional awareness, or lack of it, is a problem.

[cali]

4. WIC food items are geared toward specifically meeting the needs of

women, infants and children 5 and under.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIC#Items_provided

And why should SNAP match those requirements? I rely on food stamps and although I eat very little meat, fish or chicken, I do from time to time. I do eat potatoes and sometimes (gasp) I buy white rice. WIC doesn't allow the purchase of canned beans- like black beans. It doesn't allow for the purchase of canned garbanzos. Now I usually buy dried legumes but I sometimes buy canned beans. No imported cheeses are approved. There are many, many more items that you can't purchase with WIC.

It's absurd to suggest that the standards should be the same.

[Freddie]

7. My daughter got WIC

While pregnant and for her child's first year, and canned beans were included. Canned tuna, breakfast cereal (only certain kinds), peanut butter, whole wheat bread, cheese, fresh produce, "real" juice and lots of milk. Would have included infant formula if she needed it. I suspect some of these items, especially the milk, would have been considered "government surplus" under the old plan. I remember my Granny getting that surplus peanut butter in cans in the 60's.

[cali]

8. canned beans are not on the approved list for many states

[Niceguy1]

17. the govt peanutbutter

And cheese was soo good.

[SHRED]

10. Can you purchase soda with SNAP?

[cali]

13. yes. I don't drink soda other than gingerale which I find

helpful for an upset stomach. are you suggesting that I shouldn't be able to buy ginger ale with my food stamps?

what else don't you want me to purchase?

should food stamp recipients not be able to buy frozen pizza?

How about cookies?

Potato chips?

cake mixes?

sugar?

that I don't buy those things, has nothing to do with my revulsion for people who think they should be able to dictate the diet of poor people. I happen to be a very good cook. I've never, for instance, used a cake mix in my life, but I do bake the occasional cake with sugar. It's easier for me than for a lot of people on food stamps; I live alone. I'm educated regarding food and nutrition and I love to cook. I live near lots of farms with farm stands and reasonable prices. tonight, I'm making a stir fry with vegetables and tofu and loads of ginger. I eat fairly well on my meager food stamp allotment, but it takes planning and work to do so- and skill and there are lots of items that I wish I could afford.
(I'd love to make a quiche with gruyere or some gougeres).

there is a better way to help people to eat healthily. One way would be to send food stamp recipients menus with recipes for a family of four for a month- and shopping lists for that menu. I've often thought that I'd like to use the local food venture kitchens in my town to host classes for food stamp recipients where people could get together and make a week's worth of dinners and learn about healthy cooking and ingredients.

[Capt. Obvious]

5. WIC causes the line to be held up

Because the loaf of bread was 2oz short.

[dionysus]

9. whats sad is i see a lot of ppl using WIC to buy their groceries at 7-11, where everything is 3

times more expensive than at the grocery store 2 miles away.

[Sheldon Cooper]

11. And woe be unto the cashier who makes even the tiniest mistake on a WIC order.

When I worked grocery, your first WIC mistake entitled you to a three-day unpaid vacation. Your second one was the end of the line for you - good bye. Hang up your apron and get out.

[frazzled]

6. Because WIC is a nutritional assistance program for Women, Infants, Children

who are at risk, dietarily speaking. It's very mission is to improve nutrition, so that explains its exclusion of junk foods.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides Federal grants to States for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic

[jwirr]

12. Snap, the old food stamps, was created long ago for the use of the poor in the general public.

WIC was later created to serve pregnant women and children under the age of five so the needs are more specific.

[blogslut]

14. WIC is for pregnant women and young children

One can't buy vinegar or baking soda or any of the numerous sundries...

Oh, forget it. Why should the poor have anything? Let them eat dirt.

[justice1]

15. I suspect retailers are behind the strictness.

It used to be you were able to purchase 36 0z of cereal in total. Now they specify box sizes. Next time you are at the grocery store, figure out the price per ounce. At my local Walmart, the WIC approved one is the most expensive.

[antigone382]

16. WIC is so specific, and sometimes so arbitrary, that you often can't find approved items...

...especially if you are in a rural area or a food desert with limited access to grocery stores.

approved items change as children get older, and they are different if you are breast-feeding vs. using formula. You cannot buy organic items (or at least you couldn't a few years ago). At one point, my friend on WIC found that she was not allowed to buy brown eggs--even though there is zero nutritional difference between brown eggs and white eggs. She was very health conscious and found that her WIC items rarely met with her needs, and often included things she didn't eat very much, like peanut butter and highly processed cereals. She often couldn't find WIC approved items in our rural town's only grocery store.

I don't mean to knock WIC. I think it is an important program that meets the nutritional needs of the most vulnerable members of our society. But the idea that WIC standards should be applied to SNAP is not realistic.

[Recursion]

18. Different purposes. SNAP is part of the farm bill, and is a way to guarantee demand for farmers

WIC is a separate program and is meant to prevent childhood and maternal malnutrition. WIC is primarily a supplement to TANF and SNAP; if you qualify for either (or Medicaid) and have a small child you qualify for WIC. Back when there was AFDC, WIC was a way of making children's nutrition in-kind rather than a cash benefit because, well, you can guess why.