Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Examining the Evidence to Define Benefit Adequacy.

摘要

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) touches the lives of millions of people in the United States in good and particularly in bad economic times. Over the last decade participation in the program has increased from less than 20 million to 46 million in 2012 in the wake of the post-2008 recession. As administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (USDA-FNS), SNAP is intended to supplement the ability of individuals and households to purchase food for consumption at home with a benefit allotment that is delivered to them most commonly in the form of Electronic Benefit Cards that they can spend in food stores. With one in seven people in the United States currently receiving SNAP benefits, an assessment of the science and evidence base for defining adequate allotments is important to the well-being of these participants, as well as to the functioning of the program.