[ad_1]
A sign in the window of a New York market announces the acceptance of food vouchers.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
hide legend
activate the legend
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
A sign in the window of a New York market announces the acceptance of food vouchers.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
For about 40 million Americans, the benefits of SNAP are a lifeline.
The additional nutritional assistance program, formerly known as food stamps, provides about $ 60 billion in assistance annually. And retailers who accept SNAP benefits are required to stock a variety of staple foods, including a minimal number of fruits and vegetables, meats, dairy products and cereals.
Controversy is emerging that foods are considered staple foods. If the beef is dried, spray cheese and queso number of dips? The Trump administration has proposed a rule that would allow retailers to include these elements.
"The Trump administration would weaken what the stores would have to offer," said Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group. She says this could reduce the number of healthy options in convenience stores and convenience stores where SNAP program recipients spend about $ 3 billion in benefits each year.
A rule written under the Obama administration would require retailers to stock at least seven different products in each of the four major food categories – fruits and vegetables, meat, dairy products, and grains.
According to the change proposed by the Trump administration, retailers could store dried meats – such as dried beef – and long-life processed cheese products to help them meet their meat and dairy needs. . And that could make up for the need to offer so much fresh meat and dairy products. Wootan's policy: "Very few families would choose a Slim Jim as the main course of a meal," she says. It's a snack.
While Wootan and I visit a convenience store in Washington, DC, she points to aisles filled with snack foods. "Almost all of that is fries, cakes, sweets," she says.
She says SNAP benefits are about providing people with food they can cook at home. And it would be helpful for convenience stores to allow families to make "a real food store they can turn into a meal," says Wootan – more like a grocery store.
Studies have shown that lack of easy access to healthy foods – whether living in an urban "food desert" or in a rural area without a supermarket – is one of the factors contributing to malnutrition and poor nutrition. obesity.
And it's also true that in some areas convenience stores fill a void. "We are offering the majority of healthy foods," said Robert Forsyth, who operates the MotoMart chain of convenience stores in six central west states, including Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio. His family has been in the business for decades.
He says that there was a time when we only saw cigarettes and chocolate bars at gas stations. "We've been in the business for so long, we remember before convenience stores are really a thing," says Forsyth.
Now people are coming "to buy orange juice and milk and, in our stores, apples, oranges, bananas," he says. He also mentions a range of nuts, breads and whole grain yogurt that his stores have in stock. "A lot of good, healthy products," he says.
Forsyth supports rule changes proposed by the Trump administration. In a letter to the USDA, he asked the agency to give retailers even more flexibility in determining which foods meet the requirements. He also defends products such as beef jerky, which he says is popular, nutritious and affordable.
"Affordability is a huge aspect," says Forsyth. He says that he can only stay in business when he sells items that people want to buy. "It does not do me any good to sell almond milk and goat cheese" because he says his customers do not want it.
"You have to meet the SNAP recipients where they are," says Forsyth. And he does not like the idea of ​​distinguishing dried beef or processed cheese. "I think it's an elitist attitude." He says the rules written under the Obama administration would have hurt his business. "The situation is that the law would have prevented convenience store operators from accepting the benefits of the SNAP program.
It should be that people should learn about good nutrition. "We need to educate people about their choices and we need to make sure that they have a choice of healthy choices to choose from," Forsyth said. But the rules should not be so strict that they undermine his business. According to him, if convenience stores were closed in some of the smaller cities where he operates, such as Plover, Wisconsin, and Galion, Ohio, some of his customers live miles away from a large supermarket and do not have easy access to transportation. would be left with fewer options for buying food.
The public comment period on this draft rule ends today.
[ad_2]
Source link