WIC — the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children — is one of the country’s most effective public health programs, providing nutrition support to pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and children up to age five who meet income eligibility requirements. At the heart of the program is the WIC food package: a set of specific foods — fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, whole grains, legumes, infant formula, and more — that participating families receive each month at no cost. The foods in the package are grounded in scientific evidence and aligned with federal dietary guidelines, and they are updated periodically to reflect advances in nutrition science and the evolving needs of the families WIC serves. Updating the package is one of the most consequential policy levers in maternal and child nutrition — it determines what ends up on the tables of more than six million families nationwide every month.
On April 13, 2026, California rolled out the latest revision: adding more fruits and vegetables by increasing the Cash Value Benefit for produce, expanding whole grain options, introducing canned fish, and offering new plant-based milks. It was the most significant update to the program in nearly two decades. But revising the food package is only half the work. The harder question is: what happens next — and how are the changes affecting children and families?
To answer that question rigorously, PHFE WIC, a program of Heluna Health, partnered with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) WIC Division to design and launch the 2026 California WIC Food Package Survey — a first-of-its-kind longitudinal study to document the real-world impact of the food package change on California families. Presented at the National WIC Association Annual Meeting in Dallas on May 29, 2026, it is believed to be the only active study of its kind in the country.
The Question Behind the Study
WIC food package updates don’t happen often. The last major revision was in 2009, and researchers, including the PHFE WIC team, spent the years before and after the change documenting its effects: increased whole grain consumption, reduced childhood obesity risk, improved food security, higher rates of breastfeeding. That evidence base ultimately shaped the 2024 final rule and the 2026 implementation mandate.
Now, with a new round of changes taking effect, PHFE WIC and CDPH are determined not to wait years for the field to catch up. They launched this study to capture baseline data before the April go-live date and will follow families through early 2027 — giving researchers, state leaders, and federal policymakers a clear picture of how the changes are landing on the ground.
The timing could not be more important. As Congress debates proposed cuts to the Cash Value Benefit for fruits and vegetables — the very benefit that has shown the strongest association with improved diet quality and food security — having current, rigorous data from the field is not just useful; it’s essential.
The Study Design
The study uses a pre-post longitudinal design, with two survey waves bracketing California’s April 2026 food package implementation. Time 1 data was collected between February and March 2026. Time 2 will follow in February and March 2027 — capturing the same families after a full year of living with the new package.
In November 2025, a random sample of 20,000 California WIC families was drawn from the state’s participant database. To be eligible, families needed to include an infant or child under 42 months, be English- or Spanish-speaking, have a caregiver 18 or older, and have opted into WIC text messaging. Recruitment was conducted via text message using individualized links, with a $10 e-gift card offered as compensation. The survey was programmed in SurveyMonkey and IRB-approved by the California Health and Human Services Agency.
The survey covered food shopping behavior, food intake, household food security, barriers to accessing WIC foods, SNAP and Medicaid participation, service delivery preferences, and household demographics.
What the Baseline Data Already Show
The response exceeded expectations. Over 4,185 families completed the survey — surpassing the 4,000-family target — with responses from all ten regions of California. The sample reflects the diversity of California WIC: 81.9% of respondents identified as Hispanic or Latino, with English- and Spanish-speaking families nearly evenly split among them.
A few findings from the baseline data stand out:
Child food security is notably higher than household food security. 80% of children in the study fell in the high or marginal food security category, compared to 55% at the household level. This gap — 25 percentage points — suggests that WIC is serving its core purpose: protecting children’s access to nutrition even when the broader household is under stress. At the same time, food security levels at the household level are concerning.
Families want more fruits and vegetables, not fewer. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (65.8%) said the current fruit and vegetable benefit amount is “too little” — a finding that carries particular weight given the proposed federal reductions to the Cash Value Benefit now under congressional consideration.
WIC foods are changing how families eat. 82.6% of respondents said WIC foods changed how they feed themselves or their family. Nearly 97% rated WIC foods as very important.
The WIC app is the dominant information channel. 84% of respondents use the WIC app to understand their benefits, with 36% talking to staff and 31% using online materials. This finding has direct implications for how the new food package changes are communicated to families.
Interest in online shopping for WIC benefit delivery is also significant: 58.8% of respondents said they would be very or somewhat likely to use home delivery for their WIC benefits, even if a fee were involved.
“We’ve been studying the impact of WIC food package changes for more than two decades, and history has taught us that the evidence doesn’t collect itself. We’re fortunate to have strong leaders in the California WIC Program who understand how important it is to document these policy changes. The before picture we now have tells us that fruits and vegetables are the most important WIC benefit for families, contributing to notably higher rates of child food security — and that already informs national policy efforts, especially given what’s being proposed in Washington right now. A year from now, the after picture will yield even more evidence for WIC’s impact.” – Shannon E. Whaley, PhD, Director of Research and Evaluation, PHFE WIC
What History Tells Us About Food Package Changes
The PHFE WIC research team has spent more than two decades documenting the effects of WIC policy on families in Southern California. The 2009 food package change — the last major revision before the 2024 final rule — produced a substantial body of evidence: a meaningful reduction in childhood obesity risk, a 51% increase in whole grain consumption, a 60–63% reduction in whole milk consumption, and an 86% increase in the rate of exclusively breastfeeding packages issued at WIC enrollment.
Separately, increases to the Cash Value Benefit for fruits and vegetables — first enacted in 2021 and formalized with the 2026 food package change — told a similar story. Research from PHFE WIC and partner institutions showed that higher CVB amounts were associated with significantly increased household food security (a 10% increase), greater fruit and vegetable redemption, and improved dietary intake among children. Critically, the same research showed that when the CVB for children was reduced — even modestly — fruit and vegetable consumption went down.
That evidence base is directly relevant right now. With the President’s FY27 proposed budget calling for a reduction of the CVB to $10–$13 per month (down from $26–$52 depending on category) and the House budget proposing a 10% cut as a “first step” toward lower levels, the stakes for this research are high.
“Our families told us something important in this survey: they value this program deeply, they’re using it to feed their children better, and they want more support, not less. Two-thirds of respondents said the fruit and vegetable benefit isn’t enough. That’s not a policy abstraction — that’s a parent standing in a grocery store trying to stretch a benefit that already falls short of what their family needs. This research exists so that when decisions get made about this program, they get made with that reality in the room.” – Denise Gee, Executive Director, PHFE WIC
A State Partnership Built for Impact
“Part of what it means to run programs well is being willing to ask hard questions about whether they’re working — and having the infrastructure to answer them honestly. The partnership between PHFE WIC and CDPH on this study is a model for how that should look: rigorous, collaborative, and timed to be useful when it matters most. At Heluna Health, we’re proud to support work that doesn’t just serve families today but builds the evidence base that protects them tomorrow.” – Christine Sow, President & CEO, Heluna Health
What makes this study possible — and credible — is the collaboration at its foundation. PHFE WIC brings deep research infrastructure: a dedicated in-house research team, decades of peer-reviewed publications on WIC policy, and experience managing longitudinal datasets drawn from one of the most diverse WIC populations in the country. CDPH brings statewide reach, administrative data systems, and a track record of using research to shape California’s food lists within federal parameters. That relationship already has precedent: data from PHFE WIC’s 2019 and 2023 surveys informed CDPH’s decision to default California WIC participants to the full Cash Value Benefit for fruits and vegetables rather than juice — a meaningful state-level policy choice that federal rules allow but don’t require.
The partnership is also an explicit invitation to the broader field. The research team is offering to share the full survey instrument, the bilingual SurveyMonkey programming, and the IRB materials with any state WIC agency that wants to replicate the study. The goal is to generate not just California data, but a national picture of how families are experiencing the 2026 food package changes.
This presentation was delivered at the National WIC Association Annual Meeting on May 29, 2026 by Dr. Shannon E. Whaley and Fariha Chowdhury, MSc, California WIC Director at CDPH.
The Heluna Health Commitment
PHFE WIC is a program of Heluna Health, a national nonprofit public health organization dedicated to advancing health access and strengthening communities. Heluna Health’s support of this research reflects a long-standing commitment to operating programs that don’t just deliver services — they generate the evidence needed to improve and protect those services over time.
This study was funded in part by grant number 2025-67017-45034 from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
What Comes Next
Time 2 data collection is planned for February through March 2027, following the same families after a full year with the new food package. The research team will examine changes in benefit redemption, food security, dietary intake, and ongoing program participation — giving the field a before-and-after picture that no other study is currently positioned to provide.
The baseline findings presented in Dallas are just the beginning. But they already tell a clear story: California WIC families are engaged, they value the program deeply, and they want more support — not less — to feed their children well.
The data to make that case at the federal level are now being collected. And when they’re ready, PHFE WIC and Heluna Health will make sure policymakers hear them.
