For many Americans who live at or below the poverty threshold, access to healthy foods at a reasonable price is a challenge that often places a strain on already limited resources and may compel them to make food choices that are contrary to current nutritional guidance. To help alleviate this problem, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers a number of nutrition assistance programs designed to improve access to healthy foods for low-income individuals and households. The largest of these programs is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly called the Food Stamp Program, which today serves more than 46 million Americans with a program cost in excess of $75 billion annually. The goals of SNAP include raising the level of nutrition among low-income households and maintaining adequate levels of nutrition by increasing the food purchasing power of low-income families. In response to questions about whether there are different ways to define the adequacy of SNAP allotments consistent with the program goals of improving food security and access to a healthy diet, USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to conduct a study to examine the feasibility of defining the adequacy of SNAP allotments, specifically: the feasibility of establishing an objective, evidence-based, science-driven definition of the adequacy of SNAP allotments consistent with the program goals of improving food security and access to a healthy diet, as well as other relevant dimensions of adequacy; and data and analyses needed to support an evidence-based assessment of the adequacy of SNAP allotments. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Examining the Evidence to Define Benefit Adequacy reviews the current evidence, including the peer-reviewed published literature and peer-reviewed government reports. Although not given equal weight with peer-reviewed publications, some non-peer-reviewed publications from nongovernmental organizations and stakeholder groups also were considered because they provided additional insight into the behavioral aspects of participation in nutrition assistance programs. In addition to its evidence review, the committee held a data gathering workshop that tapped a range of expertise relevant to its task.

Abstract: A reference text for decision-makers and policy planners in food and nutrition policy and program areas reviews regulatory and developmental aspects of the US federal food stamp program (FSP). The 6 themes of the text are focused on 2 major areas: interactions between regulations and the development and context of the FSP (hunger as a federal issue; the rationale of the FSP; regulatory reform; FSP cut-backs); and aspects of federal regulations, social policy, and the political process associated with the FSP (congressional-administration interactions in rule-making; the administrator's environment and the significance and exercise of administrative discretion). The material is based on some 40 elite interviews (with congressmen, legislative aides, career civil servants, lobbyists, White House staff, political appointees in the Department of Agriculture, and OMB officials) and on data obtained from Department of Agriculture and White House files. A discussion of the continuing concern about hunger in the US is appended. (wz).