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With the farm bill and appropriations bills moving through Congress, the potato industry is pushing again to require the WIC program to add white potatoes to the limited list of foods it provides, contrary to what the nation’s leading nutrition experts recommend. USDA revised the WIC food package in 2009 to include fruits and vegetables for the first time as part of an effort to fight obesity. As the Institute of Medicine recommended, USDA did not include white potatoes because they would provide no additional nutritional benefit:  WIC participants already eat more than the recommended amounts of starchy vegetables. Allowing WIC participants to use their fruit and vegetable vouchers — which are for a fixed dollar amount of food purchases — to buy potatoes would not only lead to more starch consumption, but would leave less for foods that participants don’t eat enough of, such as dark green leafy vegetables.

Source: Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 6/4/13, WIC