Food stamps pay for $2 billion in sugary drinks
The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) pays at least $2 billion a year for sugar-sweetened drinks bought in grocery stores alone, a new study says.
That figure doesn’t even include drinks bought at retailers like convenience stores or Walmart.
“Anti-hunger and public health advocates should work together to ensure that all government food assistance programs are implemented in a way that is consistent with helping Americans meet government dietary recommendations,” says Tatiana Andreyeva of the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity.
Full story at Futurity.
Photo credit: Fotolia
It sounds more fair for food stamps to only pay for nutritious foods (since that’s unearned income) than for the gov’t to just ban big sugary drinks…