FNS Documents & Resources

The tip sheet provides a list of suggested practices that program operators may adopt to assist with proper meal counting and claiming when meals are served in alternative locations.

Stewardship of federal funds is a basic expectation of American taxpayers and is critical to the ongoing success of nutrition assistance programs. FNS continuously works to detect, prevent, and minimize errors and improper payments, as well as fraud, waste, or abuse. In this way, FNS preserves public trust, enhances partner relationships, and provides excellent customer service to program participants.

In January 2020, the USDA FNS will publish in the Federal Register a proposed rule entitled “Streamlining Program Requirements and Improving Integrity in the Summer Food Service Program” to improve program efficiency while allowing local operators to spend more time focused on serving children.

States have long served as incubators for testing strategies to help prevent program fraud. Based on an FNS partnership with 10 states, the "SNAP Fraud Framework" combines innovations in the use of analytics with concepts and practices from industry in order to more effectively detect potential fraud and improve administration and oversight.

USDA Efforts to Reduce Waste, Fraud and Abuse in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

The sale or exchange of SNAP benefits for anything other than food sold by an authorized retailer is illegal – and is neither accepted nor tolerated by USDA.