Guest guest Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 what county in MA? That idea has promise. Stop and Shop has a program in which they load extra specials onto their shopping card. The extra savings or incentive could be loaded onto the EBT card so when say fresh oranges were purchased the incentive, additional money or maybe points would be added to the card. There would be no effort on the store except to be able to accept the card. Much better than forcing a tax to be collected by the merchant and then paid to the state. Raphaela > > Have an RD friend who has worked in trying to change food policy in > Washington for years - she said if you have any questions feel free to ask. > This is info she gave me already. > > " I don't think we will ever see changes in what SNAP participants can > purchase. I remember meeting many times to discuss " junk " foods and > realizing that there was no way we could define them. When does a granola > bar morph into a candy bar? Yogurt would be OK but ice cream " bad " but > nutritionally they are essentially the same of course depending on fat > content. I could go on and on. The politicals who keep the program going > say " why should poor people not be allowed to purchase the same foods that > rich people do? " . Why not just give people cash rather than food benefits > and avoid the paternalistic approach which says that they would not feed > their kids and would instead spend the cash on booze and cigarettes? Back > in the 90s we studied just that in several states. [i was the project > officer]. The best designed study of several [san Diego] found no > difference in the food availability of the families on cash vs. food > stamps. A campaign is futile but we need to keep hammering away at > nutrition ed. > > > BUT….FNS is conducting a study in one county in Mass. to see if we can > incentivize SNAP participants to purchase more fruits and vegetables [the > same list that WIC uses now] by giving them additional benefits if they do > so. It's a $10 million study and involves getting retailers to change their > check-out procedures to be able to determine which purchases are made that > are eligible for the added cash benefit. > -- > Ortiz, MS, RD > *The FRUGAL Dietitian* <http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com> > Check out my blog: mixture of deals and nutrition > Whole Foods boxes – $60 boxes for $24 > shipped<http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=13063> > National Wear Red Day for Heart Disease: February 4th, > 2011<http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=12861> > ** <http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=12001><http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=10437>\ " Nutrition > is a science, Not an Opinion survey " > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.