Encouraging retailers to help with food stamp outreach

The news digest from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) reported yesterday about a new project from the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to encourage retailers to help with food stamp outreach. This seems a clever way to leverage the retailers' own financial interest in promoting the food resources of their customers.

The Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture developed a toolkit designed for retailers who wish to increase the nutrition of low-income Americans and decrease food insecurity by providing information to their customers about food stamps. The toolkit is intended for retailers of any size, whether chain or independent stores, and contains information about how to promote food stamps to families in need who are eligible for the program but not participating. It also features outreach efforts through partnerships and explains how retailers can help educate their customers about the nutrition benefits of food stamps. The USDA's Food and Nutrition Service presented its first Golden Grocer Hunger Champions Award to Pathmark Stores, a regional supermarket operating 141 stores primarily in the New York-New Jersey and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. The award recognizes the companyÂ’s contribution to promoting participation in the Food Stamp Program and its efforts to improve service to food stamp recipients and encourage healthy eating habits.