This document announces the effective date of the information collection provisions contained in the originally-published rule.
Low participation rates among low-income people eligible for food stamp benefits have prompted a number of outreach and public education efforts. In 2002, the Food and Nutrition Service awarded $5 million in grants to community-based organizations in 15 States to investigate how to increase participation among people eligible for food stamp benefits. The evaluation of these grants describes the features and outcomes of these 18 projects.
A summary of past research on program operations and outcomes related to the Food Stamp Program.
This page contains questions and answers on the food safety provisions of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004.
This interim rule reflects amendments made by section 111 of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 which require schools participating in the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program to increase the number of food safety inspections from the one inspection currently required to two inspections per year; to post the most recent inspection report in a visible location; and to release a copy of the report to members of the public upon request.
Most discussion of payment accuracy in the Food Stamp Program focuses on the overall level and cost of payment errors. Rarely does the discussion focus on the impact of payment errors on individual households affected. This analysis – based on 2003 food stamp quality control data – leads to two broad conclusions. First, virtually all households receiving food stamps are eligible. Thus, the problem of erroneous payments is not so much one of determining eligibility, but rather one of attempting to finely target benefits to the complicated and changing circumstances of low-income households. Second, most overpayments to eligible households are small relative to household income and official poverty standards. As a result, most food stamp households are poor, and they remain poor even when overpaid.
The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 directed the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a study of the feasibility of using computer technology to reduce over-certification, waste, fraud and abuse in the National School Lunch Program.