The National Association of Convenience Stores is raising concerns about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) proposed rule to update the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s (SNAP) stocking requirements.
The new requirements could negatively impact thousands of retailers—especially small-format c-stores—who participate in SNAP and the consumers who rely on the program for food access, Alexandria, Virginia-based NACS said.
NACS, along with NATSO, which represents travel centers and truck stops, and SIGMA: America’s Leading Fuel Marketers, filed comments on Nov. 24 opposing the proposed rule.
If finalized, the rule would put the 2014 Farm Bill’s higher breadth-of-stock requirements for SNAP retailers into effect, increasing from three to seven distinct varieties of food in each of the four staple food categories: protein, grains, vegetables/fruits and dairy, NACS said. This groups fundamentally different foods together, preventing retailers from counting many of the products they already carry as separate varieties for compliance, the association said.
“We appreciate USDA’s goal of expanding healthy choices for SNAP families. But as drafted, this rule would reduce food access and push tens of thousands of small-format stores out of the program,” said Margaret Mannion, NACS director of government relations. “We’re eager to work with USDA to make some targeted fixes so that we can support a final rule that more than doubles the amount of nutritious food on shelves, while still protecting the critical access that the convenience industry provides.”
Convenience stores represent the largest share of all SNAP-authorized retailers, NACS said.
When the proposed rule was announced in September, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said the changes were aimed at protecting the program, participants and taxpayers by mitigating fraud, waste and abuse and ensuring additional healthy food options for recipient families.
Comments on the proposed rule were accepted by the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service through Nov. 24. Now, those comments will be reviewed and made public at regulations.gov.
Starting on Jan. 1, retailers in eight states will also face SNAP Food Restriction Waivers that restrict items deemed “non-nutritious,” NACS said.
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