WIC/BTFGLA letter supporting WIC food package changes

ACTION ALERT

WIC Food Package Change Comments Due November 6, 2006

The Board of Directors of the Breastfeeding Task Force of Greater Los Angeles supports the WIC food package changes. Click here to view our letter of support.

We urge you to support the changes by commenting by November 6, 2006,

E-mail: Send comments to wichq-sfpd@fns.usda.gov. Include “Docket ID Number 0584-AD77, WIC Food Packages Rule,” in the subject line of the message. It would be helpful to also include in your message your organization and your city/state.

Sample Comment:

Breastfeeding. I support the stronger incentives for continued breastfeeding by providing less formula to partially breastfed infants and providing additional quantities/types of food for breastfeeding mothers. These changes will promote and support long term successful breastfeeding, which is a key early step in obesity prevention.

Signed:

Your name

Your title (mother is an appropriate title, your professional title is also appropriate)

For more information, read on:

This proposed rule, published August 7, 2006, would revise regulations governing the WIC food packages to align the WIC food packages with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and current infant feeding practice guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics, better promote and support the establishment of successful long-term breastfeeding, provide WIC participants with a wider variety of food, provide WIC State agencies with greater flexibility in prescribing food packages to accommodate participants with cultural food preferences, and serve participants with certain qualifying conditions under one food package to facilitate efficient management of medically fragile participants. The revisions largely reflect recommendations made by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in its Report “WIC Food Packages: Time for a Change,” with certain cost containment and administrative modifications found necessary by the Department to ensure cost neutrality.

Please note: On 9/1/06, the Federal Register published corrections in two tables, noted below. The corrections reflect formatting changes only. No changes have been made to the language or amounts of the proposed revisions.

1. On page 44795, the table entitled ``Exhibit G.--Number of Powder Infant Formula Containers Issued to an Infant Participant Born 01/01/2006, for Food Packages I & II Fully Formula Fed (FF) Using Rounding Up'' is being reprinted in its entirety. (The correction adds the heading “Mead Johnson’s Enfamil Lipil” to the first column of the table. The heading had been inadvertently dropped.)

2. On page 44817, in Sec. 246.10(e)(9), Table 1 is being reprinted in its entirety.
(The correction reformats the table to clarify that two columns (Food Packages I BF/FF & III BF/FF and Food Package II BF/FF) appear under the heading “Partially breastfed (BF/FF)” and two columns (Food Package I BF and II BF) appear under the heading “Fully breastfed (BF).”

9/1/06 Correction PDF | 9/1/06 Correction Text

DATES: To be assured of consideration, comments must be postmarked or sent electronically on or before November 6, 2006. Please note: While your comments will be considered, no replies will be sent in response to individual comments.

The Food and Nutrition Service invites interested persons to submit comments on this proposed rule. Comments may be submitted by one of the following methods:

Mail: Send comments to Patricia N. Daniels, Director, Supplemental Food Programs Division, Food and Nutrition Service, USDA, 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 528, Alexandria, Virginia 22302.
E-mail: Send comments to wichq-sfpd@fns.usda.gov. Include “Docket ID Number 0584-AD77, WIC Food Packages Rule,” in the subject line of the message. It would be helpful to also include in your message your organization and your city/state.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
Use our online form to submit comments. You will receive a confirmation page and your comments will be sent by email to FNS.

All comments submitted in response to this proposed rule will be included in the record and will be made available to the public. Please be advised that the substance of the comments and the identities of the individuals or entities submitting the comments will be subject to public disclosure.

All written submissions will be available for public inspection at 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 528, Alexandria, Virginia 22302, during regular business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.) Monday through Friday - contact 703-305-2746. FNS may also make the comments publicly available by posting a copy of all comments on the FNS Web site at http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic.