Abstract: This report provides information on the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's (USDA) handling of the National WIC Evaluation and its current plans for a follow-on study of WIC's impact on children. The report discusses the problems USDA encountered in performing the National WIC Evaluation, which added to its cost and delayed its issuance; the reason USDA cancelled a follow-up study of WIC's effects on children; and the status of USDA's plans for a redesigned study of children. It also includes factors USDA may want to consider in planning and conducting future evaluations in order to produce less costly, more timely results.

Abstract: This hearing receives and reviews a report by the General Accounting Office on the National WIC Evaluation. This WIC evaluation discusses the circumstances surrounding a delayed, over budget WIC evaluation and some of the editing processes that resulted in sections of the report being deleted.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) began 40 years ago as a pilot program and has since grown to serve over 8 million pregnant women, and mothers of and their infants and young children. Today the program serves more than a quarter of the pregnant women and half of the infants in the United States, at an annual cost of about $6.2 billion. Through its contribution to the nutritional needs of pregnant, breastfeeding, and post-partum women; infants; and children under 5 years of age; this federally supported nutrition assistance program is integral to meeting national nutrition policy goals for a significant portion of the U.S. population. To assure the continued success of the WIC, Congress mandated that the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reevaluate the program's food packages every 10 years. In 2014, the USDA asked the Institute of Medicine to undertake this reevaluation to ensure continued alignment with the goals of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. In this third report, the committee provides its final analyses, recommendations, and the supporting rationale.