The Food, Nutrition and Conservation Act of 2008 (also known as the Farm Bill) authorized funds to pilot test and rigorously evaluate the impact of financial incentives at the point-of-sale for the purchase of fruits, vegetables or other healthful foods on the diet quality of participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program FNS refers to this effort as the Healthy Incentives Pilot or HIP. HIP operated for 14 months in Hampden County, MA.
The attached memorandum of questions and answers, issued jointly by the Food and Nutrition Service headquarters, food distribution and child nutrition divisions, clarifies the use of SAE funds, both as initially allocated and when reallocated, for administrative and other expenses incurred in the food distribution program.
The Farm Bill authorized $20 million for pilot projects to evaluate health and nutrition promotion in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to determine if incentives provided to recipients at the point-of-sale increase the purchase of fruits, vegetables or other healthful foods among SNAP participants.
The updated administrative review, authorized by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, includes a new section titled resource management that monitors the Local Education Agencies (LEAs) compliance with federal regulations that support the financial health of the school meal program’s nonprofit food service account.
In February, 2013, FNS published final regulations revising the definition of trafficking. It subsequently came to our attention that some states were not clear that upon its effective date, federal law takes precedence and states were expected to implement the new federal trafficking definition.
FNS is issuing a final rule to amend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program regulations to allow state agencies to deny a request for a replacement card until contact is made by the household with the state agency, if the requests for replacement cards are determined to be excessive.
The attached Q&As are issued in follow-up to Policy Memorandum SP 50-2013, Release of the new state agency Direct Certification Rate Data Element Report.
This memorandum provides regional offices with guidance as they work with states to ensure that online and paper SNAP applications meet federal requirements and are user-friendly, understandable and effective.
Trafficking of SNAP benefits occurs when SNAP recipients sell their benefits for cash to food retailers, often at a discount. Although trafficking does not increase costs to the federal government, it is a diversion of program benefits from their intended purpose of helping low-income families access a nutritious diet. This report, the latest in a series of periodic analyses, provides estimates of the extent of trafficking during the period 2009 through 2011.