NACS session shares important information for retailers that participate in food program.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is the largest program in the domestic hunger safety net. That net becomes a little less tangled with a new final rule, according to Eva Rigamonti, an associate at the international law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP. The topic was focus of an education session Oct. 17 at NACS 2017 in Chicago.
CHANGE FOR THE BETTER
The SNAP retailer eligibility rule proposed by the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) last year included stocking requirements that would have made it difficult for many c-stores to meet—potentially pushing thousands of small retailers out of the program.
“You would have literally had to become a grocery store to participate,” said Rigamonti.
After protests from convenience retailers and input from the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), the FNS lessened eligibility requirements in the form of a final rule released Oct. 16 Among the changes the rule would require SNAP-authorized food retailers stock at least seven (up from three in years past) varieties of items in each of USDA’s four staple food categories—Meat, poultry or fish; bread or cereals; vegetables or fruits; and dairy products—to include one perishable item in three of those categories.
Some aspects of the eligibility requirements of the final rule are still under review—including the proposed definition of variety.
The new SNAP stocking policy states that in order for retailers to be eligible to participate in SNAP, they must offer fewer than seven different varieties of food items in each of the four staple food categories with a minimum depth of stock of three stocking units for each staple variety, Rigamonti explained. This means that, on any given day of operations, a retailer should offer a total of 84 units for sale (three stocking units, seven staple varieties, four staple food categories, equaling 84 units).
In addition, the FNS agreed that in defining stable foods, it would include multiple ingredient offerings as well as grab-and-go items.
Another change in the final rule pertains to hot food service in c-stores and SNAP eligibility. Last year, the FNS had added in the proposed rule: retailers would be ineligible for the program if 15% of “total food sales” are items that are cooked or heated on site. The final rule changed this requirement, stating if 50% or more of a retailer’s total gross sales are of heated foods, that retailer is ineligible to be in the SNAP program.
BEARING RESPONSIBILTY
Rigamonti also explained to session attendees that retailers in the SNAP certification can remain in good standing by training employees on all the criteria of the final SNAP rule, calling it their “obligation.”
In addition, retailers are also beholden to train staff on the repercussions if incidents of fraud occur in their stores as part of the SNAP program.