Impact of changes to the WIC food package in corner stores in Hartford, CT

Limited access to healthy food in low-income, minority communities has been well documented. A potential source of healthy foods, particularly in small corner stores, is through the WIC program. After nearly 40 years, the WIC food package was revised in October, 2009 to include fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and replacing whole milk with low-fat milk for women and children over age two. We conducted a natural experiment to compare availability of these items between WIC and non-WIC certified stores in Hartford, CT before and after the food package revisions. We hypothesize that WIC certified stores will have greater availability of healthy food items after the October food package revisions. We conducted store inventories in 56 corner stores from January to March 2009 and again from October to November 2009. We measured differences using paired t-tests, chi-square tests, and regression analyses. Preliminary results show significant differences between WIC and non-WIC stores on availability of fresh fruits (p<.01), whole wheat bread (p<.01), and brown rice (p<.01) but no significant differences in vegetable availability. Before the policy change, WIC-certified stores were significantly more likely to sell low-fat milk (1% or less) and this difference increased after the October change. The percent of WIC stores selling low-fat milk increased from 63% to 94% after October, compared to 32% of non-WIC stores (p=.01). Among all stores, total fruit availability decreased for 11% of stores, remained the same for 34% and increased for 45%. WIC certification contributes to greater availability of healthy foods in corner stores. Policy changes either at the local, state or national level can provide a powerful impact on increasing healthy food availability in disadvantaged communities.