USDA produces four food plans outlining practical, nutritious diets at successively higher cost levels: the Thrifty, Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans. The Thrifty Food Plan serves as the basis for maximum allotments in SNAP.
This document provides the initial study plan for the reevaluation of the Thrifty Food Plan, 2026. This initial study plan is based on information available as of April 2023. The USDA, FNS intends to publish a final study plan by early 2026.
This report examines the impact of using Medicaid data to directly certify students for free and reduced-price school meals in the NSLP and SBP in fifteen states in school year 2019-20. It assesses outcomes related to certification, participation, federal reimbursement, and state administrative costs in SY 2019-20 and over the course of the demonstration.
The WIC Certification and Eligibility Resource and Best Practices Guide is a compilation of existing regulations and best practices that WIC state and local agencies may choose to use when determining eligibility for the program. This simple, 10-page document walks WIC personnel through the certification process.
This policy memorandum transmits the 2020-2021 Income Eligibility Guidelines for the Senior Farmers’ Market National Program.
The purpose of this memo is to reiterate the importance of state compliance with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program regulations, Prisoner Verification System and Deceased Matching System.
This policy memorandum transmits the 2019-2020 Income Eligibility Guidelines for the Senior Farmers’ Market National Program.
This memo discusses SNAP applications and other documents being sent by clients to the USDA Office of Civil Rights instead of the appropriate state SNAP office. The memo outlines best practices states can use to make submission instructions clearer for clients.
FNS is issuing this policy memo in response to inquiries about how state agencies are required to inform households about required and missing verification and how this interacts with other Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) requirements, including whether a state may close a case on the 30th day following application.
This Food and Nutrition Service policy memo clarifies the process for calculating restored benefits in SNAP cases in which the application or recertification process of an eligible household has been delayed for more than one year due to state agency fault.