Abstract
This article addresses the policy, programme, and food-commodity aspects of United States non-emergency food assistance programmes in the Latin American and Caribbean region since the end of the Cold War. The article contains an analysis of the cost, composition, and quality-control improvements of United States Public Law 480 (P.L.480) Title II foods, which reach over one-half million recipients each year through 16 maternal and child health programmes in 6 countries. After a description of the changes in maternal and child health programmes in the 1990s, the author concludes that further improvement in the nutritional status of young children in Latin America will take place more readily from the transformation of food distribution programmes into food and nutrition security programmes than from isolated acts of supplying complementary foods of improved quality.