Article ABC News

Food Stamps: Fat Times For Food Companies, Recipients in $72B Program

A record number of Americans—46.7 million, or nearly 1 in 7–now uses the food stamp program, according to the Department of Agriculture. The annual cost of SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as the food stamp program is officially known) hit $72 billion last year, up from $30 billion four years earlier. SNAP’s swelling size and cost have earned it fresh scrutiny from critics, who say SNAP is making two different constituencies fat—big corporations and the poor—the first, figuratively; the second, literally. Many health advocates, concerned by Americans’ increasing obesity, argue that food stamp purchases should be disallowed for items high in salt or fat or sugar—candy, say, or fatty meats, potato chips and soda.