For years, frum mothers enrolled in New York’s WIC program have walked out of stores without formula for their babies. The federal benefit covered dozens of products, but not one of them met the cholov yisroel standard their families keep. The choice came down to paying out of pocket or forfeiting a benefit they already qualified for.
That changes now. New York has approved its first cholov yisroel infant formula for coverage under WIC, the federal program that supports pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and children under five. The state signed off on the addition this week, and the formula is expected to reach WIC-authorized retailers later this month.
Why Kosher Certification Was Not Enough
New York’s WIC list already ran more than 40 infant formulas, and several carried kosher certification. None were cholov yisroel. That distinction tripped up state officials who assumed a kosher label settled the matter. Cholov yisroel dairy is produced under continuous Orthodox supervision from milking through packaging, a stricter standard that many Chassidish and yeshivish families hold as ikar hadin rather than a chumra. A generic hashgacha does not clear that bar.
The Met Council, which ran a three-year campaign to get the formula approved, had to teach the New York State Department of Health the difference. As CEO David Greenfield framed it to state officials, the Jewish community has its own food requirements the same way other communities do, and there are different levels within kosher itself.
The Iron Problem
The holdup was never religious. It was regulatory. Every cholov yisroel formula previously on the table fell one-tenth of a milligram short on iron, 1.4 milligrams against a USDA minimum of 1.5. That single gap disqualified the products automatically, no matter how well they served the community.
Met Council did not ask for a waiver. In 2025, its managing director of food programs, Hannah Lupien, tracked down a cholov yisroel formula that already cleared the federal iron requirement. The product is made by a British manufacturer. Met Council brought it to the state, officials verified it met the standard, and the approval followed.
Who This Helps
The change reaches tens of thousands of families across New York each year, concentrated in Boro Park, Williamsburg, Flatbush, Crown Heights, Far Rockaway, Monsey, and Kiryas Joel. These are places where large families and tight budgets make WIC a real part of household planning, and where cholov yisroel is not negotiable.
Infant formula runs into the hundreds of dollars a month. For a family that was absorbing that cost because nothing on the WIC list worked, the relief lands immediately. The approved formula is expected to be priced in line with other covered products and stocked at all WIC-authorized retailers, which means no special ordering and no hunting from store to store.
New York Follows Florida and New Jersey
New York is not the first state to get here. Florida moved earlier, and New Jersey approved its first cholov yisroel WIC formula this past spring after a push led by Assemblyman Avi Schnall. New York’s approval carries the most weight by population, given the size of its Orthodox community. It also hands every other state with a significant frum population a working model to copy.
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A Quiet Win With Real Consequences
This is not the kind of story that lands a government agency in the headlines. It is a technical fix to a formulary list. But for a mother standing in a store aisle who could not buy formula her family would use, the fix is the whole game. A benefit these families were always entitled to will finally work the way it was supposed to.
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