Why does the West Virginia WIC Program encourage use of certain infant formula?
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Bureau for Public Health, Office of Nutrition Services/WIC Program has entered into an agreement with Abbott Ross Nutrition. Abbott Ross Nutrition provides Similac Advance Early Shield, Similac Sensitive, Similac Sensitive RS, and Isomil as the sole source milk-based and soy-based formulas for WIC participants. The agreement is a federally mandated cost containment system. It provides a savings of approximately $8.36 million per year to the West Virginia WIC Program. This savings allows the West Virginia WIC Program to continue to serve an additional 15,000 WIC participants, in addition to the caseload served by the federal WIC grant. In accordance with federal regulations, WIC-eligible formulas are mainly issued in a concentrated liquid or powdered forms. The issuance of a ready-to-feed formula is limited to exceptions when there is an unsanitary or restricted water supply, there is poor refrigeration, the infant caretaker ma
