To help mitigate the issues created by the Similac infant formula recalls, Texas WIC continues to encourage grocers to use the maximum flexibility possible to ensure WIC participants receive safe formula. As a result, there will be no sanctions for redeeming different brands or sizes of formula to accommodate for WIC participant needs through April 30, 2022.

Texas WIC provided guidance regarding formula concerns in a February Vendor News Flash.                  

Texas WIC continues to add additional Universal Product Codes (UPCs) to the Authorized Product List (APL) where possible to enable more formula options at the register for WIC clients.  Please continue to download the APL every 48 hours, at a minimum, for any further additions. You may view additional formula updates at Formula Updates and find UPCs and Not to Exceed (NTE) amounts for all added formula at  UPCs and NTEs for Temporary Added Formulas.

The SNAP emergency allocation (taking the benefits to max. for family size)  has been approved by USDA/FNS.  The payments will be loaded onto Lone Star Cards 3/7-3/11.  The total will be approximately $250 million.

The Texas P-EBT plan has been approved by USDA/FNS.  Texas SNAP will cover the plan later this month.  I would anticipate the funds loaded onto Lone Star Cards in June, similar to last year. However the amount will be less since most school districts have returned to in person classes.

Abbott Nutrition has issued another recall for additional infant formulas manufactured in Sturgis, Michigan. The latest recall involves prescribed formula, Similac PM 60/40. The most recent impacted formulas are:

• Lot # 27032K80 (can)
• Lot # 27032K800 (case)

Similac PM 60/40 is a highly specialized prescribed formula most commonly sold through pharmacies and DMEs but may also be sold through full-line grocer pharmacies and Predominantly WIC stores. WIC participants should be directed to return to their healthcare provider for an alternate formula. For additional information, go to Abbott’s Similac Recall Product website.

Be advised, this is in addition to the previous recalled lots of Similac, Alimentum, and EleCare powder formula. Please reference our recent Vendor News Flashes for information and guidance:

Our National Partner FMI, just spoke with the team from FNS including Diane Kriviski, Deputy Administrator at 5:45pm and then confirmed that you can use the authority in the letter from FNS to all State WIC agencies from 2/18/22 on page 3, “WIC participants have the same rights as all other consumers under this recall” to allow anything you would allow for other customers – including refunds or substitutions without any additional waiver.  FNS is expecting to have additional waivers including waivers of the federal portion of the vendor agreement as soon as tomorrow.  We will get that information to you as soon as we have it.

We received the following information from Abbott, Gerber and Perrigo that we thought would be helpful to you:

To help mitigate the issues created by the Similac infant formula recall, Texas WIC encourages grocers to use the maximum flexibility possible to ensure WIC participants receive safe formula. Texas WIC is adding additional Universal Product Codes (UPCs) to the Authorized Product List (APL) to enable more formula options at the register for WIC clients.  Texas WIC encourages the vendor community to allow any suitable Similac branded product that has not been recalled. Where that is not possible, please allow any other formula the WIC client presents that will scan through to be redeemed.

If a participant still can't get the needed formula with the added UPCs, stores can decrement the card for the formula the WIC client was originally issued and replace with comparable sizes and brands, or combinations of sizes and brands, to come up with similar total ounces for participants.  While we want participants to get full benefits wherever possible, a few ounces above or below is an acceptable substitution. 

Click here for PDF Press Release

Austin, TX - Today the Texas Retailers Association announced John McCord has been selected as their new Executive Director. McCord joins TRA after leading legislative efforts for the National Federation of Independent Business in Texas for the past three years. He will assume the role in mid-February. 

“On behalf of myself, the association membership and the board of directors we would like to welcome John McCord as the new Executive Director of the Texas Retailers Association. John brings a wealth of experience which will be tremendously beneficial to the association and the Texas retailers we represent.” said Theresa Flores, TRA Board Chair.

Texans left many grocery store shelves empty this week as they stocked up for the winter storm.

DECLARATION  OF  EMERGENCY  NOTICE (TITLE  49, CODE  OF  FEDERAL  REGULATIONS, PART  390.23)

COMMISSION STEVEN  P.  MACH,  CHAIRMAN NELDA L.  BLAIR STEVE H.  STODGHILL DALE  WAINWRIGHT Pursuant  to  Title  49,  Code  of  Federal  Regulations  (CFR),  Part  390.23  and  Chapter  644  of  the  Texas Transportation  Code,  Director  Steven  C.  McCraw  has  declared  a  statewide  emergency  exists  which justifies  an  exemption  from  Parts  390  through  399  of  Title  49  (Federal  Motor  Carrier  Safety Regulations).  Such  emergency  declaration  is  in  response  to  the  severe  weather  conditions  in  the State  of  Texas.   Declaration  of  this  emergency  provides  relief  from  Title  49,  CFR,  Part  395.3  of  the  Federal  Motor Carrier  Safety  Regulations  for  motor  carriers  in  Texas  providing  direct  assistance  to  the  disaster relief in  the  State  of Texas.   This  includes,  but  is  not  limited  to,  power  grid  repairs  and  delivery  of groceries,  fuel,  propane  and  other  essential  products.       Nothing  contained  herein  shall  be  construed  as  an  exemption  from  the  Controlled  Substances  and Alcohol  Use  and  Testing  Requirements  of  Title  49,  CFR,  Parts  40  and  382;  Commercial  Drivers License  requirements  of Title  49,  CFR,  Part  383 and  Chapter  522 of  the  Texas  Transportation Code;  the  Financial  Responsibility  requirements  in  Title  49,  CFR,  Part  387 and  Chapters  601 and 643  of the  Texas  Transportation  Code;  the  Hazardous  Material  Transportation  Regulations  of  Title 49,  CFR,  Parts  107  (Subpart  G),  171,  172,  173,  177,  178,  and  180;  or  the  applicable  State  of  Texas size,  weight,  or  traffic  safety  regulations.   Motor  carriers  that  have  an  Out-of-Service  Order  in  effect  cannot  take  advantage  of  the  relief  from the  regulations  that  this  declaration  provides  under  Title  49,  CFR,  Part  390.23. Consistent  with  Title  49,  CFR,  Part  390.23,  the  emergency  declaration  will  take  effect  on  February 03,  2022,  and  will  remain  in  effect  for  the  duration  of the  emergency  (as  defined  in  Title  49,  CFR, Part  390.5)  or  for  five  days,  ending  at  11:59  pm  on  February  07,  2022,  whichever  is  less.   

Direct Deposit Notifications System Error
Please be advised, due to updates made to the EBT redemption system, Direct Deposit Notifications (DDNs) sent out last night, January 31, are missing outlet level payout information for payruns 14439 and 14440.
We have informed our third-party vendor and are working on resolving this issue as soon as possible. Last night’s DDNs will be corrected and resent, and future DDNs will be sent out once this issue has been resolved.
Payments will not be affected and no action is needed from vendors.
Texas WIC is ready to assist our vendor partners. Should you have any questions regarding this Vendor News Flash, please contact the Vendor Management Unit’s EBT Operations Branch at [email protected]. Find more WIC vendor resources on our website.

Dear Business and Industry Partners,

The City of Austin's Economic Development Department is distributing 96,000 surgical masks to local, small businesses at no-cost on Wednesday, January 19. These resources are intended to help keep our local, small businesses open and customers safe.

City and County leadership issued a health and safety order January 13, 2021. Below are details about the order.

The “Protecting Customers and Employees and Preserving Adequate Workforce Capacity” order is intended to slow the local spread of COVID-19 and protect our economy and hospital systems. The order includes:

FMI Legal and Regulatory Community:

Anga Sanders was hopeful attending the City Council's Economic Development Committee meeting this week. There, council members discussed why they can’t seem to get grocery stores to open up in Dallas' most underserved communities, in hopes of inching closer toward a solution.

But Sanders, an Oak Cliff resident and the founder of the organization FEED Oak Cliff, said she didn’t hear any solutions at the meeting. Instead, she heard what she’s been hearing for years: justification for not fixing the city’s food deserts.

“We’re on this merry-go-round, and we’re just going in circles,” Sanders said. “It’s constant motion but no forward progress, just 'round in circles.”

Food deserts are places where people don’t have access to healthy food options within a 5-mile radius of their homes. Grocers often say high crime statistics, low income and a lack of other stores keep them out of such areas.

Hoping the new year brings relief to long-standing food deserts in Southern Dallas, a city council committee met with the Texas Retailers Association on Monday to get a general overview of how grocers decide where they'll put stores.

It’s 2022 and Dallas continues to struggle to provide its southern residents access to fresh, quality groceries, especially south of Interstate 30.

• Per the Order issued late Friday, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reinstated the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers, lifting the Fifth Circuit’s earlier stay of OSHA’s emergency temporary standard (ETS).  OSHA, in turn, issued a “litigation update” early Saturday about related deadlines.

• The effect of both are that, pending further judicial review by the US Supreme Court, the ETS requirements are legally resurrected – with compliance deadlines that have now been moved to January and February 2022. Specifically:

• February 9 for vaxx or test

• January 10 for everything else (e.g., written policy, notices, survey data compilation, postings, PTO to get vaxxed, etc.)

• See https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/ets2#litigation

• This, of course, is only true for the 22 states that are under federal OSHA jurisdiction.  For the 28 “state plan” states, such states originally had 30 days from issuance of the ETS to adopt the ETS or “as least as effective” measures.  Thus, although OSHA is silent on this so far, that related deadline may (at least practically) move back as well.

• For a list of OSHA “State Plan” states, see https://www.osha.gov/stateplans/

• As for other timing issues, there was an emergency stay request filed with the US Supreme Court last night.  More such requests will likely follow Monday -- and the Supreme Court will likely announce an expedited briefing schedule Monday or Tuesday.  After that we’ll have a better lay of the legal landscape.