StarKist supports SNAP program rule changes -- allowing larger variety of food choices
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — StarKist Co., which operates StarKist Samoa in the territory, has lent support to the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) proposed rule that would expand the definition of "variety”, saying “it would provide small format retailers with greater flexibility to stock healthy, shelf-stable products in order to meet the eligibility requirements to participate” in the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
When told about the proposed FNS change in definition, two local officials told Samoa News yesterday morning that the proposed change will benefit local recipients as well as stores that accept food stamps issued by the ASG Department of Human and Social Services.
In a public notice, the FNS, an agency of the US Agriculture Department (USDA), announced proposed changes to the SNAP regulations pertaining to the eligibility of certain SNAP retail food stores.
These proposed changes, according to FNS, are in response to the federal Consolidated Appropriations Acts of 2017 and 2018, which prohibited USDA from implementing two retailer stocking provisions — the “Breadth of Stock” provision and the “Definition of `Variety'?” provision — of the 2016 final rule titled, “Enhancing Retailer Standards in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)”, until such a time as regulatory modifications to the definition of “variety” are made that would increase the number of food items that count as acceptable staple food varieties for purposes of SNAP retailer eligibility.
Read more: http://www.samoanews.com/local-news/starkist-supports-snap-program-rule-changes-allowing-larger-variety-food-choices