You can’t make America healthier
by cutting fruits and vegetables.

If the goal is better health and eating real food, fruits and vegetables have to be part of the solution. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is one of the nation’s strongest public health nutrition programs, serving more than 6 million women, infants, and children with nutrition support at a critical stage of life.

WIC plays an important role in supporting healthy pregnancies, healthy early childhood growth and development, and better diet quality for women and children living in low-income households. Its fruit and vegetable benefit helps families put nutritious foods on the table and build better eating habits early.

What the WIC Cash Value Benefit is and Why it Matters

More than a decade ago, the produce industry and its partners worked with policymakers to create WIC’s Cash Value Benefit (CVB), which provides a monthly dedicated fruit and vegetable benefit for WIC participants. Instead of a requiring a specific SKU or package allowance, recipients can pick the fruits and vegetables of their choice, prioritizing consumer choice and supply chain flexibility.

That investment continues to show results today: once children transition from formula or breastmilk, fruits and vegetables are the most popular items in the WIC food package.

Research shows that when the benefit increased from $9 month to $26, children’s daily fruit and vegetable consumption rose by one-third of a cup per day, families purchased a greater amount and variety of fruits and vegetables, and participant satisfaction improved significantly.

The Power of the Benefit

Visualizing the difference in monthly purchasing power for families.

CHILDREN Before and After

Current Monthly Benefit for Children

A metal basket containing carrots, sweet potato, strawberries, blackberries, grapes, apple, potato, and avocado.

Proposed Monthly Benefit for Children

Metal shopping basket with fruits, vegetables, and a bag of carrots against a light blue background.

WOMEN Before and After

Current Monthly Benefit for Women

Overhead view of a grocery cart filled with assorted fruits and vegetables including bananas, apples, broccoli, cauliflower, grapes, oranges, bell peppers, and a bag of romaine lettuce.

Proposed Monthly Benefit for Women

A grocery basket containing Fresh Express Baby Spinach, a green pepper, an orange, bananas, an apple, and a cauliflower.

Unwinding the Myths on CVB Funding Levels

✖ THE MYTH
"The current CVB amounts reflect a COVID-era boost that should be reverted to pre-2020 levels."

✔ THE FACT
The current CVB for fruits and vegetables reflects a long-standing, evidence-based, Congressionally mandated review process. In 2024, USDA made cost-neutral updates to the WIC food package that reflected science-based recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences and Medicine. The scientific foundation for the current CVB levels was established during the Trump Administration, at Congress’s direction that USDA review the WIC food package every 10 years. The recommendation to increase the benefit was based in nutrition science, not emergency policy.

✖ THE MYTH
"WIC participants don’t need higher fruit and vegetable benefits because WIC is supplemental."

✔ THE FACT
The current benefit amount is already supplementary. Today’s benefit amount covers approximately 50% of a mother or child’s monthly fruit and vegetable needs. Any cut to the benefit will impact participants, fruit and vegetable growers, and Americans’ health.

What’s at Stake?

If policymakers are serious about making America healthier, cutting support for fruits and vegetables is exactly the wrong move. WIC is one of the clearest examples of how nutrition policy can support better health across the lifespan.

Reducing the WIC fruit and vegetable benefit would take the program backward. It would make it harder for women and children to follow the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and harder for families to put more fruits and vegetables on the table.

WIC is a smart investment, with every $1 invested estimated to save $2.48 to $3.13 in medical, educational, and productivity costs.

Protecting Nutrition

Fruits and vegetables are foundational to healthier diets, and the fruit and vegetable benefit helps women and children build those habits early.

Data & Key Facts

More than 6 million women, infants and children under six participate in WIC.

USDA made the current fruit and vegetable benefit permanent in 2024 as part of science-based updates to the WIC food packages.

Children’s daily fruit and vegetable consumption increased by one-third of a cup per day after the benefit increase.

Retailer icon

Families purchased a greater amount and variety of fruits and vegetables when the benefit increased.

Arrow hitting the bullseye

Fruits and vegetables are reported among the most highly redeemed items in the WIC food package once children transition from formula or breastmilk.

Every $1 invested in WIC saves $2.48 to $3.13 in medical, educational, and productivity costs.

Get involved

Mollie Van Lieu

Vice President, Food & Nutrition Policy

Government Relations

+1(202)303-3403 Email Mollie Van Lieu

You can’t make America healthierby cutting fruits and vegetables.