How a fight over beef Jerky reveals tensions over SNAP in Trump Era: Salted: NPR

A sign in the window of a New York City market announces acceptance of food stamps.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

hide text

shift text

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

A sign in the window of a New York City market announces acceptance of food stamps.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

For about 40 million Americans, SNAP benefits are a lifeline.

Supplementary nutrition assistance program, formerly known as food stamps, delivers around $ 60 billion in aid each year. And retailers who accept SNAP benefits are required to store a variety of staple foods – including a minimum number of fruits and vegetables, meat, milk, and grains.

Now there is a controversy that brews over which foods originate. Should the beef jerky, spray cheese and queso dip count? The Trump administration has proposed a rule that will allow dealers to include these items.

"The Trump administration would weaken which stores had to offer," said Margo Wootan of the Public Interest Center, a Consumer Responsibility Group. She says this can result in fewer healthy options in convenience and corner stores where SNAP recipients spend about $ 3 billion in benefits each year.

A rule written during the Obama administration will require dealers to make at least seven different products in each of four major food categories – fruits and vegetables, meat, milk and grains.

During the change proposed by the Trump administration, retailers could store dried meat products such as beef church and shelf stable, processed cheese products to help them meet their meat and milk requirements. And this can compensate for the need to offer so many fresh meat and dairy products. Wootan's complaint about this policy: "Very few families would make up a Slim Jim as a main course in a meal," she says. It's a snack.

As Wootan and I visit a convenience store in Washington, D.C., she points to the hallways filled with food. "Almost all of these are chips, cakes, sweets," she says.

She says that SNAP benefits are meant to give people food that they can cook at home. And it would be helpful if convenience stores made it possible for families to do "a real food store they can prepare for meals," Wootan says – more like a grocery store.

Studies have shown that lack of easy access to healthy foods – whether due to living in an urban "food desert" or a rural area without a supermarket – is a contributor to poor nutrition and obesity.

And it is also true that convenience stores fill a gap in some areas. "We offer most healthy foods," says Robert Forsyth, who runs the MotoMart chain of convenience stores across six Midwestern states, including Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio. His family has been in the business for decades.

He says there was a time when you just wanted to see cigarettes and sweets at gas stations. "We've been in business for so long, we remember before the convenience stores were really a thing," forsyth says.

Now people come in to buy orange juice and milk and in our stores apples, oranges, bananas, he says. He also points to a variety of nuts, whole grain breads and yogurt that his stores stock. "Many good, healthy products," he says.

Forsyth supports Trump management's proposed regulatory changes. In a letter to the USDA, he asked the agency to give resellers even more flexibility in determining which foods meet the requirements. He also defends products such as beef, which he says are popular, nutritious and affordable.

"Affordability is a big aspect," says Forsyth. He says he can only be in business if he sells goods that people want to buy. "It doesn't make me good to sell almond milk and goat cheese," because he says customers don't want them.

"You have to meet SNAP recipients where they are," says Forsyth, and he doesn't like the idea that the beef wrinkled or processed cheese is designated. "I think it's an elitist attitude." He says "The situation is law would have pushed out convenience stores" from accepting SNAP benefits.

He agrees that people should be taught more about good nutrition. " Need to educate people on their choices, and we need to make sure they have a variety of healthy choices to choose from, says Forsyth. But the rules should not be so strict that they undermine their business. He says if convenience stores were pushed out by some of the small towns where he operates, like Plover, Wis., And Galion, Ohio, some of his customers who live miles from a large supermarket and don't have easy access to transportation would be left with Fewer food shopping options.

The public comment period on this proposed rule ends on Tuesday.