Describe the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the controversy that surrounds it.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), administered by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), is the largest of the federal food assistance programs, both in amount of money spent and in number of people served. Participation in SNAP significantly decreases food insecurity. It provides assistance to more than 44 million people at a cost of $70 billion per year; about half of the recipients are children. The USDA issues debit cards through state agencies to households—people who buy and prepare food together. The amount a household receives depends on its size, resources, and income. The average monthly benefit is about $125 per person. Recipients may use the cards to purchase food and food-bearing plants and seeds, but not to buy tobacco, cleaning items, alcohol, or other nonfood items.
Controversy surrounds the question of whether SNAP participants should be allowed to purchase soft drinks and other nonnutritious foods and beverages. Some argue that government programs should not support poor-quality foods that promote obesity and other diseases; others argue that government programs should not tell consumers what they cannot eat and drink and to do so is discriminatory and unfair. This lack of quality control on food purchases may not only promote obesity and disease, but it may also exacerbate hunger; consider that, given the same number of kcalories, a child will become hungrier sooner after drinking a 20-ounce soft drink than after eating a large apple with a heaping spoonful of peanut butter. In general, SNAP participants have low-quality diets and poor health. Providing sufficient benefits and aligning SNAP policy with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans would help improve the nutritional quality of diets and health of participants.