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U.S. NEWS Monday 26 March 2018
Food boxes, not stamps? Idea in budget worries grocers

By KRISTEN de GROOT
GENE J. PUSKAR
RANKIN, Pa. (AP) — Find-
ing fresh food in this tiny
riverside community that
was hit hard by the steel
industry's decline has al-
ways been a challenge.
Then, seven years ago,
Carl's Cafe opened. The
grocery store, near new
government housing, of-
fers cooking classes and
a source of fresh, healthy
food. Proprietor Carl Lewis
even has customers sign a
pledge: If he provides fresh
produce, they'll buy it. Five
such purchases, and they
get their sixth free. About
half his customers pay with
benefits from the federal
Supplemental Nutrition As-
sistance Program, so the Carl Lewis talks in his market in Rankin, Pa. About half of Lewis' customers pay with benefits from
government's proposal to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, so the government's proposal to replace
the debit card-type program with a pre-assembled box of shelf-stable goods delivered to recipi-
replace the debit card- ents worries him and other grocery operators in poor areas. "If half your business goes away, it's
type program with a pre- going to hurt," Lewis said.
assembled box of shelf- (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
stable goods delivered to
recipients worries him and ents' ability to buy their own nia Food Merchants Associ- per at Carl’s Cafe who
other grocery operators provisions could undermine ation. "We want to provide has two children ages 6
in poor areas about their recent successes in elimi- healthy, affordable prod- years and 10 months, won-
patrons' nutrition, and their nating "food deserts." "This ucts to everybody, and we dered: “What will be in it?
own bottom line. "If half of notion that they need to want to give customers a What about food allergies?
your business goes away, be told what to buy is not choice to take these dol- Do we get options to pick
it's going to hurt," Lewis borne out the by the data," lars and make the best de- from? Whatever they de-
said, noting that if SNAP said Alex Baloga, president cision for their families." cide to put in that Harvest
spending benefits are and CEO of the Pennsylva- Cache Flanagan, a shop- Box isn’t going to be fresh.”
taken away, so will recipi-
ents' ability to participate
in programs at his store. "I
see kids educating parents
on fresh food choices," he
said. "To see them reach
for an apple before they
reach for a Snickers bar, it's
fantastic. But if people are
too worried about where
their next meal is coming
from, it's going to be hard
to teach them how to cook
an eggplant." The idea
called "America's Harvest
Box" was floated in Febru-
ary in the Trump administra-
tion's 2019 budget propos-
al, tucked inside a plan to
slash SNAP by roughly $213
billion, or 30 percent, over
the next 10 years. House-
holds that receive more
than $90 in SNAP benefits
each month — roughly 81
percent of households in
the program, or about 16.4
million — would be affect-
ed. The plan immediately
raised concerns, and de-
tails were sparse. Grocery
store trade associations, as
well as nonprofits like The
Food Trust, argue that re-
moving food stamp recipi-