This month, nearly 1.4 million women, infants and children in California have greater access to the healthy foods provided through the state’s Women Infants and Children (WIC) Program.
In 2012, USDA notified the California Department of Public Health that it must continue a self-imposed moratorium on the authorization of stores to accept WIC. The moratorium was due to concerns related to the oversight of authorized WIC vendors in the state and rising costs.
The California Department of Public Health worked diligently with USDA to develop a plan to contain costs and improve program integrity. As part of the plan, the California WIC Program strengthened its requirements for vendor authorization to improve WIC participants’ access to healthy foods.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: USDA Blog