SNAP Participation Influences Where Food is Purchased
Newswise — Participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) purchase more groceries while non-participants with the same low income level purchase more restaurant or prepared foods, a new Tufts University study shows. SNAP, the new name for the Food Stamp Program, is the largest federal food assistance program in the United States.
"Participation in SNAP appears to play an integral role in where food is purchased," says Parke Wilde, PhD, corresponding author and a food economist at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts.
Wilde and Tufts colleagues Lisa Troy, PhD, and Beatrice Rogers, PhD, an economist and professor at the Friedman School, base their analysis on income and food spending data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS) taken between December 2001 and December 2005. The data represent three categories of households: single adult with children, two adults with children and adults without children. The results were published on-line January 10 by the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.
In all three household categories, low-income Americans purchase the majority of their food at grocery stores. For households with single adults and children, monthly spending on store-bought food is $25 to $50 higher per person in SNAP households, compared with otherwise similar non-participating households. Monthly spending on restaurant food is $8 to $15 lower per person in SNAP households, compared with the non-participating households. By law, the SNAP benefits may be spent only on food and beverages from authorized food retailers, not in restaurants or on hot "ready-to-eat" foods.
Participant households with the lowest income receive the highest benefit level. Wilde and colleagues expected to find the greatest difference in spending patterns between the very poorest participant and non-participant households because SNAP benefits make up the largest fraction of total resources for the poorest participant households. "Surprisingly, the spending differences between participants and comparable non-participants showed up across a range of income levels," says Wilde.
"One explanation may be that SNAP participants acknowledge the program's purpose and feel obligated to increase their food spending substantially even if their benefit level is small," Wilde adds. "Even beyond their program benefits, these participants tend to spend their own income on store-bought food."
Past research has shown that restaurant food tends on average to have more of the nutrients that Americans over-consume, and less of the nutrients that Americans under-consume. "The nutrition impact of federal anti-hunger programs depends in part on where participants get their food," Wilde said. "The federal government is pursuing research to measure the impact of SNAP on dietary quality. Our results suggest that influence over food sourcing -- from grocery stores and restaurants -- is one way the program can make a difference."
This study was supported by the USDA Economic Research Service.
The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University is the only independent school of nutrition in the United States. The school's eight centers, which focus on questions relating to famine, hunger, poverty, and communications, are renowned for the application of scientific research to national and international policy. For two decades, the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University has studied the relationship between good nutrition and good health in aging populations. Tufts research scientists work with federal agencies to establish the USDA Dietary Guidelines, the Dietary Reference Intakes, and other significant public policies.
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