If you peer into Americans' grocery carts, you're unlikely to see a mix of foods and beverages that make for an ideal diet. And this is true for many of the nearly 42 million people who receive food stamps, too.
According to a 2016 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, sweetened beverages, including soda, are among the most commonly purchased items by recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — or SNAP.
SNAP households spend about 10 percent of food dollars on sugary drinks, which is about three times more than the amount they spend on milk. In New York City alone,as we've reported, this translates into more than $75 million in sugary drink purchases each year that are subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.
Given our biological attraction to sugar, perhaps it's not a surprise. Our collective sweet tooth — which was shaped by evolutionary forces — extends far beyond SNAP households. In general, non-SNAP households spend almost as much on sweetened drinks — about 7 percent of food purchases, according to the USDA report.
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17 comments:
It's addictive. Feeding addictions and helping to create new addicts (toddlers and kids) should not be on our agenda as a nation.
The government has nutritional guidelines. Sugar water isn't high on the list of nutritional needs. Ask a nutritionist, a doctor, or a dentist.
Here's the deal. If you're on SNAP or WIC, you shouldn't be able to get soda, cookies, snack cakes, candy, ice cream, steak, lobster, crabs, etc. This program shouldn't be about what you want, but instead what you need. It also shouldn't be a lifestyle choice, it should be a stop gap/a bridge to the next opportunity.
I'm not saying you shouldn't be allowed to get chicken, hamburger meat, cheese, milk, actual juice, and all the vegetables and fruits you want, but these cards shouldn't be used as a gift card to go crazy with.
Food Stamps should have an extremely limited use range....
Lobster, Steak, and Crabs, for instance should not be allowed to be purchased with this. Any fast food or restaurant should be disallowed as well!
Yea, sodas, in addition to prime rib, rib eye steaks, frozen (prepared) vegetables -which are much more pricey than canned -, and pretty much anything else that is precooked / premade, takes no time / effort to prepare
@1234, that's one of the most sane responses to SNAP I've seen posted on here and I agree.
12:34 agreed, they eat better than us tax paying people.
Go into any convenience store and look at the shelves. You will see what is eligible for welfare payment. It will probably piss you off as it did me.
ALL ON UR PAID TAX $$$$$ LOL
People on food assistance are the only ones who can afford crabs!! I see the grocery carts piled high with sodas,donuts, cookies, pies, cakes and every other goody you can think of. They don't care what it costs. It's hard to stand behind them in line at the store gazing at all there goodies and wishing you could buy some of that good stuff, but of course you can't because you are paying for yours, unlike the moochers ahead of you. There needs to be a real crack-down on what is allowed and what isn't. Those among us who work and skimp are the ones paying for those who live on donuts......by the way, it shows.
Drug test are needed too! Sorry, that's the world we live in today!
It looks like we need to step in and actually make dietary choices for the people we feed. Good luck with that. Politics will center on people being able to make even bad choices, i.e., feelings vs. reality yet again.
Try being in a grocery store in Selbyville--see the illegals pull out their SNAP card to pay for crap, then the man in the group pulls out a wad of $100's to buy something else....
Food stamps shouldn't be allowed to be used to buy any snack foods, or treats.
At Wawa they are using their EBT cards for sodas, candy and gum.
Michele Gregory has an EBT card and look at how well fed she looks.
If you are on food stamps then you have time to cook. No eating fast food or prepared food. We should have designated food distribution centers where food stamp recepients Stan in line and wait for their supplies of flour, sugar, cheese, peanut butter etc. Exactly like it use
to be. None of this precut cheese, Baked bread, store cookies. Just the essentials until you get back on your feet. No a life time or generation after generation.
Not only are food stamps abused. When the recepient gets fat our tax dollars are used to perform surgery to reduce the size of their stomachs. Yet, if a working individual wants an elective surgery they pay for it not the Government. It's time for Medicaid reform too.
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