Soft Drinks Number 1 Purchase by Food Stamp Recipients

Isn't the purpose of Food Stamps to keep people healthy?

Which nutritional essential do soft drinks supply on OPM?
weaselzippers


Replenishing their energy after a hard day of protesting.

Via CNS News:


Soft drinks were the top commodity bought by food stamp recipients shopping at outlets run by a single U.S. grocery retailer.

That is according to a new study released by the Food and Nutrition Service, the federal agency responsible for running the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as the food stamp program.

By contrast, milk was the top commodity bought from the same retailer by customers not on food stamps.

In calendar year 2011, according to the study, food stamp recipients spent approximately $357,700,000 buying soft drinks from an enterprise the study reveals only as “a leading U.S. grocery retailer.”

That was more than they spent on any other “food” commodity—including milk ($253,700,000), ground beef ($201,000,000), “bag snacks” ($199,300,000) or “candy-packaged” ($96,200,000), which also ranked among the top purchases.[…]

“The top two commodities were the same for SNAP and non-SNAP households, namely soft drinks and fluid milk products, although the order was reversed with soft drinks ranked first for SNAP households compared to fluid milk products for non-SNAP households,” said the report.

The approximately $357,700,000 that households on food stamps spent in 2011 at this single retail chain equaled 5.44 percent of their total expenditures there.

By contrast, the $1,263,300,000 that non-food stamp households spent on soft drinks equaled only 4.01 percent of their purchases.

Food stamp households put 3.85 percent of their expenditures into milk, while non-food stamp households put 4.03 percent into milk.

Ground beef ranked as the third product bought by people on food stamps. They spent approximately $201,000,000 on that product at the retailer—or $156,700,00 less (43.8 percent) than they spent on soft drinks.

Other commodities that ranked in the Top 25 that food stamp recipients purchased included “bag snacks” (No. 4 with $199,300,000 in purchases); “frozen handhelds and snacks (No 9 with $101,500,000 in purchases); “candy-packaged” (No. 11 with $96,200,000 in purchases); “frozen pizza” (No 13 with $90,200,000 in purchases); “ice cream, ice milks, sherbets (No. 15 with $86,000,000 in purchases); “cookies” (No. 17 with $78,200,000 in purchases); and “cakes” (No 22 with $68,200,000 in purchases).

Keep reading…



Thank You CNS and Dapandico