Miller, Marissa “The SNAP Program”

After working at a local grocery store for a year and a half, I have seen the inequalities and the failure of the SNAP program. Working at a small business, I have also learned about the struggles of trying to run a small business and make profit when the business is very new. However, while I understood there would be business-related challenges, I was surprised when I learned that the small business didn’t accept food stamps. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is not properly addressing food inequality in the United States because of how its eligibility is very restrictive and the small acceptance of EBT cards in grocery stores; this affects people of color disproportionally and contributes to food deserts in certain minority communities.  

The first time I had to deny someone their purchase because the grocery store didn’t accept EBT cards, I knew I needed to learn more about why food stamps are not always accepted. I wanted to learn why the store didn’t accept food stamps because I wanted to know if there was a way for us to accept them. According to “Measuring the Effect of Food Stamps on Food Insecurity and Hunger: Research and Policy Considerations” by Parke Wilde, only 60% of eligible households participate in the SNAP program. Food insecurity impacts over thirty-five million people in the US each year, so why don’t all grocery stores accept EBT cards? Food stamps can only be accepted at stores where staple foods, like produce, dairy, and bread, make up more than fifty percent of the store’s profit (USDA, Food and Nutrition Service). The grocery store where I worked did not meet the criteria, therefore it couldn’t accept food stamps for any of its products, not just the prepared foods, even though the store did sell staple goods.  

Most of the people I had to tell that we don’t accept EBT cards were people of color. Joshua Sbicca, author of Food Justice Now!, is a professor and activist who writes about the structural inequalities of the US food system. Sbicca talks about the relationship between the food justice movement and other social justice movements throughout history. He relates structural inequalities and applies them to food related inequalities, writing, “traditional foodways have been lost or disrupted, many communities lack access to healthy food, and these same communities have been inundated with local food initiatives that tend to benefit white people more than people of color” (Sbicca 29). This quote analyzes the socioeconomic hierarchy that exists in the food industry; Sbicca explains how the disparities between different races and classes in the US have a direct correlation with the disparities in the food industry. He follows up on this point by referencing how people of color have limited access to healthy, nutritious foods which leads to disproportionate amounts of obesity in minority groups. Even with EBT cards, people in these communities are more likely to purchase unhealthy foods because they are cheaper and more accessible.  

In the quote above, Sbicca contextualized the food justice movement in terms of historical social justice movements in the US showing how inequality is the main issue that must be addressed in society. I found that Sbicca’s point is supported by the article “Food Stamps and America’s Poorest” by Dean Jolliffe. Jolliffe argues that the SNAP program is vital to the elimination of poverty and hunger in the US, and reports that the program has lifted the income floor by 75% (Jolliffe). His findings solidify the fact that food stamp expansion and mandatory acceptance of food stamps is an important regulatory path forward when attempting to address food insecurity and inequality in the US. Equal access to food starts with supporting all who cannot access healthy food by ensuring that EBT cards are accessible to every community.  

SNAP benefits are not evenly distributed among races for a variety of reasons. According to the article “Moving policies toward racial and ethnic equality: The case of the supplemental nutrition assistance program” by Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, a professor at Syracuse University who does food policy research, the SNAP program should be “blind to race” because race is not supposed to be considered as part of the application process. However, SNAP is still disproportionately inaccessible to Black and Hispanic people because of the onerous burden of demonstrating eligibility (Flores-Lagunes 575). This is an issue because it can be difficult for minority groups to navigate the systems in place. A solution to the issue of participation is proposed by Flores-Lagunes, which is to create an automatic enrollment component so all eligible households can receive the benefits they need from the SNAP program. Lagunes also talks about the lack of accessibility of nutritious foods for minority groups, this is deeply intertwined with the issue of food deserts in neighborhoods with a large population of people of color (NPR and Flores-Lagunes). In a video by NPR called “Food Deserts in DC” a reporter follows a DC resident on her journey to get her weekly groceries. The woman in the video must travel two miles by taking two different buses to get to the nearest grocery store that accepts food stamps. Even after getting to the Giant, she cannot afford to buy all her groceries there because their prices are too high (NPR). Clearly food deserts are intrinsically intertwined with the SNAP program, and to adequately address food justice issues, SNAP benefits need to be expanded.  

While the previously mentioned proposed solution of automatic enrollment solves the issue of participation equality in the SNAP program, it still doesn’t solve the issue of accessibility to grocery stores that accept EBT cards. Many people living in lower income communities must travel far to get to a grocery store that accepts EBT cards, and a lot of these stores are expensive, leading participating households to purchase less healthy options which can lead to obesity and other health issues. My town only has one grocery store, the one I worked at, and while there are other grocery stores in the area, the one in town is most convenient for many residents. Since the store does not accept EBT cards, it creates a divide between people in different economic situations and hinders people who deal with food insecurity because healthy food is less accessible to them.  

The only way to guarantee that this solution will work is to change the eligibility requirements for a store to accept EBT cards. If the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) eliminates the condition that makes it so grocery stores need to make over 50% of their profits from staple foods, food accessibility will be improved, and some food deserts may be eliminated. While EBT cards don’t apply to prepared foods, if a store has staple foods for sale, they should be able to accept food stamps. In the article “Grocery Stores Are Not Associated with More Healthful Food for Participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program” by Allison Lacko, however, she finds through her research that the diets of those who participate in the SNAP program is a multifaceted issue that goes beyond just proximity to grocery stores. She finds that education and personal choice also play a key role in how participants choose what to buy with their EBT cards (Lacko). Through the video by NPR, this is not entirely true. The woman in the video struggled more with the prices of food and the accessibility to healthy food even with the assistance of the EBT card (NPR). Although I have never experienced food insecurity, I spoke to one of my coworkers, Donna, a retired teacher, who used an EBT card for many years. Donna explained that “it was difficult not to be able to shop at local stores.” Hearing this, I realized that the need for expansion of the SNAP program is vital to ending food deserts. Donna also talked about limitations on what you can buy with the EBT card. She noted that buying toiletries and household necessities would be a great addition to the SNAP program.  

One counter argument about the need for food stamp expansion is that of the issue of obesity and how it correlates with the SNAP program. According to the article “What Can We Learn about the Effects of Food Stamps on Obesity in the Presence of Misreporting?” by Lorenzo Almada, there is a common misconception that those who use food stamps are more likely to be obese because they eat a lot when they first get their monthly allowance and then eat more scarcely as the month goes on (Almada). However, Almada’s research proves that there is a positive correlation between food stamps and reduction of obesity. This proves how important it is to expand the food stamp program. As I said earlier in this essay, lower income households tend to eat more unhealthy foods, but with food stamps, families have greater access to healthy and nutritious foods that will reduce obesity rates and improve health. This point is also confirmed in the article “Food stamps, food insecurity, and health outcomes among elderly Americans” by Tae-Young Pak which examines the impact of food stamps on the health of elderly people. Pak explains that the improved access of food provided by the SNAP program improves both mental and physical health. Automatic enrollment and mandatory food stamp acceptance will improve the health of low-income households.  

I strongly believe that the inequitiesin the SNAP program are a huge reason that people struggle to find healthy and affordable food in the US. After listening to Donna and reading the resources I did, I realized that the only way to end the food crisis is with the mandatory acceptance of EBT cards at all grocery stores. I hope that if I ever work at a grocery store again, I will never have to deny someone their purchase, and that people everywhere will be able to purchase affordable groceries at a convenient store.