(P20-072-24) Accessibility to WIC-Authorized Ethnic Food Stores in Washington State: Implications for Serving the Needs of Immigrant WIC-Eligible Populations

Objectives: At least 20% of participants of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in Washington state are immigrants. Information on how many WIC-authorized stores are ethnic stores, where immigrants could access culturally preferred foods, is unknown. We sought to assess the distribution and accessibility of WIC-authorized ethnic stores in Washington state in relation to the location of immigrant WIC-eligible populations.

Methods: Information on WIC-authorized stores’ location in Washington was obtained from the WIC Shopper cellphone app; stores were categorized as ethnic or non-ethnic based on online information. Data on the WIC-authorized stores and American Community Survey data were used to map the census tract level percentage of 1) foreign-born individuals, 2) WIC-eligible children, and 3) location of WIC-authorized stores. The differences in distribution of, and distance to, WIC-authorized ethnic/non-ethnic stores based on the distribution of foreign-born individuals versus WIC-eligible children were analyzed using chi-square tests.

Results: Twenty nine percent of Washington census tracts had WIC-authorized stores with only 1.7% having WIC-authorized ethnic stores. Census tracts with high proportions of both foreign-born individuals and WIC-eligible children had the highest proportion of WIC-authorized ethnic stores (14.5%) and the shortest distance to the nearest WIC-authorized ethnic store (3.0 km) compared to census tracts with low proportions of foreign-born individuals and WIC-eligible children (0.5% and 20.3 km, respectively; p< 0.001).

Conclusions: While census tracts with higher proportions of foreign-born and WIC-eligible populations had the greatest accessibility to WIC-authorized ethnic stores, WIC-authorized ethnic stores are rare in Washington state. Further research on the barriers and facilitators for ethnic stores to be WIC-authorized is needed.

Funding Sources: None