Submit Foods for Review

WIC works hard to provide a variety of foods. By submitting new products for review, we can offer you and other participants as many approved foods as possible.

How to Submit Foods

Before you submit a product, verify it isn't already an allowable food and that it meets all requirements:

• Check the WA WIC Shopping Guide to verify that the product meets that food category’s requirements.
• See if the product is already on the Authorized Product List (APL).
• Look for the product in your WICShopper app under the “WIC Allowable Foods” button.

If using the WICShopper app:

• Use "I Couldn't Buy This!" button to report a food that you think is WIC allowed and you can't buy at the store. 
• You will be prompted on what information to provide. The more information included the better we can help.  

If using email:

Once you have identified a product is currently not allowed and you feel it meets all requirements, please submit the following in email to WaWICFoods@doh.wa.gov:

• Clear image of the label, nutrition panel, and the UPC barcode
• Product Name
• Package Size

What to Expect After Submission

After you submit a product, you will receive an automatic reply indicating that we received your email. Please allow at least five business days for a response.

If the product doesn’t meet the requirements after review, we'll provide you with information regarding why it wasn’t approved. All food that meets the requirements will be approved. You'll also be notified once the product is added to the APL.

How Foods Are Reviewed

We're only able to provide foods that are in our APL. When new foods are submitted, we conduct a review of the product to verify the product meets all WIC requirements. Once verified we can add it to the APL and WIC participants will have the option to purchase the item.

Each category of food has federal requirements and state criteria that it must meet before a product can be approved. There are two types of reviews.

Formal Review: We use this type of review to assess brand specific foods and large volumes of non-brand specific foods. We contact manufacturers to verify products meet WIC requirements. If they do, we can add new brands to the food categories that are brand specific. WA WIC usually performs a review annually on a select few categories.

Example: Juice is a brand specific food category. If you submit a juice that is currently not an approved brand, this product cannot be added until our review is complete, and we’ve gained submissions from all manufacturers.

Informal Review: We use this type of review to assess non-brand specific foods. We may review and add non-brand specific foods to the APL at any time, if they meet all requirements. We perform these reviews with a small number of foods at a time.

Example: Participant provides a product through the “I Can’t Buy This” feature on the WICShopper app. We determine it isn't part of the APL and it meets all the requirements, so we add this one item to the APL.