800 326 9054Food retailers will have to offer more varieties of staple foods in four categories – protein, grains, dairy, and fruits and vegetables – in order to participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, under a new rule made public today.
Stores must now offer seven varieties in each of the four categories, and at least three units of each variety, or 84 total items, on their shelves. There also must be at least one perishable food item in three of the categories. Retailers have until November to comply with the rule.
Convenience stores and other small food retailers had criticized the proposed rule for not offering enough flexibility for them to comply, warning that thousands of outlets may no longer be able to participate in the SNAP program.
“SNAP authorized retailers accept over $90 billion a year, or $236 million a day, in taxpayer dollars — USDA is making sure they’re actually in the business of selling food,” Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins says in a press release. “And for those retailers who are the only food outpost for miles, I know you will be so excited to serve your customers and communities healthy food.”
In the rule, the department says it “understands that the congressionally mandated increase in the number of staple food varieties SNAP retailers must carry may render some currently authorized stores ineligible for continued SNAP participation or prevent other stores from becoming SNAP authorized.”
However, data show that most violations of stocking requirements occur at small-format stores such as “convenience stores, small grocery stores, and stores whose primary business is not food sales,” the rule says.
“Convenience stores, specifically, accounted for nearly half (44%) of all SNAP retailers and 76% of all SNAP sanctions, but only 5% of SNAP redemptions,” the rule says. “Such data indicates convenience stores, in general, represent a significant integrity risk and, at the same time, do not provide significant points of access for SNAP households to use their benefits.”
“For small format stores that do provide significant points of access, offering more staple food varieties may help increase their SNAP customer business,” the rule says. “Additionally, it was Congress’ intent to make the stocking standards more rigorous so that unscrupulous retailers are not able to gain entry into SNAP for the sole purpose of defrauding the program.”
USDA has made uncovering fraud in SNAP a priority, touting recent enforcement actions under the program.
“The Department believes that the final rule balances expanding nutritional choices for SNAP households and making compliance with the increased standards achievable for small retailers that are reputable and effective representatives of the program,” the rule says.
Acknowledging the merit of comments that said the proposal was too restrictive, the department increased the varieties of dairy and grain products that can be counted toward the new requirements mandated in the 2014 farm bill.
“The department acknowledges that stocking a sufficient number of varieties in the dairy category represents the biggest challenge for small retailers,” the rule says. “Therefore, the department is adding shredded cheese, including grated, shaved, and crumbled cheese, as a separate variety from non-shredded cheese, and sour cream as a separate variety from any other product with cream as the main ingredient under group 2.”
The rule organizes varieties into three groups, covering single-ingredient varieties (Group 1), derivative, or multi-ingredient, food product varieties (Group 2) and shelf-stable varieties (Group 3).
The new rule also expanded the number of grain varieties by “counting whole grain bread as a separate variety from non-whole grain bread; counting whole grain pasta/noodles as a separate variety from the non-whole grain pasta/noodles; and counting breakfast cereals as a separate variety so that other breakfast products will count as separate multi-ingredient varieties based on their main ingredient.”
“These changes provide additional varieties for some commonly stocked whole grain foods, giving retailers multiple pathways to compliance within the grain staple food category requirements without undue operational burden,” the rule says.
Some commenters on the proposed rule had asked USDA to count full fat and reduced fat milk products as distinct varieties for milk, yogurt, and cheese, but the department said “doing so would not further the objective of requiring SNAP retailers to stock not only a sufficient number of staple foods, but also a sufficient variety of staple foods.”
“Allowing stores to meet the dairy staple food requirement by only stocking milk and yogurt or milk and cheese because each comes in a variety of fat contents would mean that SNAP households would have very limited choices,” the rule says. “Individual households will generally want various types of dairy products, not multiple fat contents of milk, yogurt, or cheese.”
The department rejected requests to add foods such as jerky and snack bars to the accessory foods list. “Several advocacy groups expressed concern that excluding accessory foods from counting toward staple food stocking requirements would result in smaller retailers struggling to meet requirements and fewer SNAP-authorized retailers,” the rule notes.
However, “Retailers have long been required to meet the stocking requirements under current policy” without counting accessory foods, the rule says.
On jerky in particular, the rule says that “regardless of type and protein content, [it] is not a nutrient-dense whole food product due to the high content of sodium, preservatives like nitrates and nitrites, and added sugars. Instead, jerky is considered a snack food because it is a relatively expensive on-the-go option, which is not suitable for daily consumption.”
In the rule, the department “reminds all stakeholders that while accessory foods are not factored into SNAP retailer eligibility determinations, SNAP households may still purchase accessory foods with SNAP benefits.”
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, recently renamed the Food and Nutrition Administration had finalized a rule in December 2016, but since 2017, “Congress has passed legislation delaying the increase in stocking requirements from going into effect until FNS expands its definition of ‘variety’ so that it would be workable for small format retailers,” according to the National Association of Convenience Stores.
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*Sourced from Agri-Pulse.