Interim WIC changes leave out potatoes

MOSES LAKE - People utilizing the Women, Infant and Children's (WIC) Program see a change in potato availability.

Chris Voigt, of the Washington State Potato Commission, clarified the interim rule changes about the removal of potatoes from the assistance program.

"The clarification we got was any Irish potato, anything not a sweet potato or yam," said Voigt, the commission's executive director.

So sweet potatoes and yams are currently part of the program, but other types of potatoes are not.

To address the issue, potato commission representatives are planning several meetings in February with Washington state's congressional delegation.

Voigt explained how the WIC program was designed to provide more nutrition to low-income, at risk mothers, or pregnant women, he said.

The program started out traditionally as a dairy program, to ensure kids were getting milk, vitamin D and calcium because it's critical to their development.

"They realized there was more in nutrition than milk," he said.

Over the years, the USDA added more foods to the program.

Anytime another food was brought on, a scientific body wrote a report with recommendations to lend third-party credibility.

The USDA used the Institute of Medicine to write a report about how to strengthen the WIC program.

"They wrote a report saying fruits and vegetables should be added," he said. "That's where they said all fruits and vegetables except for white potatoes."

He thought they originally wrote the report in 2005 and the USDA started taking a look at it.

As a result, the USDA wrote an interim final rule adopting every recommendation in the report, which went into effect in 2009.

An interim final rule means the rule is in effect, but could be changed until there is a final rule.

The USDA secretary makes the final rule in June, he said.

Others asked why potatoes weren't included, Voigt said.

"The reasoning they gave is that potatoes were already being purchased by WIC participants," he said. "The intent of the new rule was to get them to buy other fruits and vegetables other than potatoes. That was the reason we learned why potatoes were excluded."

Before the interim rule was established, a program was done in one California county and in New York state.

The program showed potatoes were the eighth most frequently purchased produce item.

"Our concern, was what about the other seven things that weren't excluded," he commented. "It just doesn't make sense."