Changes made last year to the federal feeding program for women, infants and children may be inadvertently reducing total fluid milk consumption among program participants. That’s the message the Milk Industry Foundation delivered last Friday to the Institute of Medicine during the public comment session following the IOM workshop “Methods and Approaches to the Assessment of WIC Food Packages.”
Speaking on behalf of MIF, Michelle Matto, IDFA’s consultant on nutrition and labeling issues, noted that reduced-fat milk is the preferred choice among minority households, according to consumption patterns. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture changed the WIC final rule last year to allow only low-fat or nonfat milk unless a nutrition assessment documented a need for reduced-fat milk.
Matto stated that recent market data shows that USDA’s action has contributed to lower reduced-fat milk consumption without a compensating increase in low-fat and nonfat milk consumption. She stressed that all varieties of milk contain the same essential package of nutrients.
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