Summary
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection for the Food Price Data Collection in the Non-Contiguous States and U.S. Territories Study. This is a new information collection request. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) uses information on current food prices for several applications related to research, policy, and consumer education. Accurate food price data are crucial for informing federal nutrition and agricultural policies such as the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), which estimates the cost of a healthy diet. The purpose of this study is to fill a gap in existing food price data by collecting and estimating the prices of foods and beverages in the TFP market basket in seven states and territories: Alaska, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Request for Comments
Written comments must be received on or before June 8, 2026.
Comments may be sent to: Kevin Kuczynski, Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1320 Braddock Place, Floor 4, Suite 4080, Alexandria, VA 22314. Comments may also be submitted via email to kevin.kuczynski@usda.gov. Comments will also be accepted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to Regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting comments electronically.
All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the request for Office of Management and Budget approval. All comments will be a matter of public record.
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) uses information on current food prices for several applications related to research, policy, and consumer education. An important application of data on food prices is in calculating cost adjustments to the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) to reflect the food prices in specific areas of the country as required by law. Retail scanner data reflect the best source of information on food prices currently available for adjusting the cost of the TFP to reflect local food prices. However, existing retail scanner data in specific locations are limited—particularly in the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)—and increasing levels of aggregation present in the scanner data could limit future analyses for Alaska and Hawaii.
The purpose of this study is to answer the question, “What are the prices of foods and beverages in the TFP market basket in each of the non-contiguous states and U.S. territories?” and to explore development and application of a standardized approach for collecting sufficiently representative food price data. Study objectives include:
- Develop a detailed plan for collecting representative food price data in each of the non-contiguous states and U.S. territories.
- Collect food price data in each of the non-contiguous states and U.S. territories using the data collection approach developed.
The study will use multiple methods to gather food price data, including: (1) Electronic retailer data (retailer-provided sales data from point-of-sale system, retailer-provided price data from inventory management system, commercial scanner data); (2) WIC EBT data; (3) Web scraped data (from retailer website); and (4) In-store survey data (field data collection).