This information collection is for activities associated with SNAP demonstration projects and the SNAP State Options Report, respectively.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 authorized Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (Summer EBT) as a permanent federal food assistance entitlement program beginning in summer 2024. Summer EBT has been tested through evaluations of demonstration projects since 2011. With pending implementation of this new program, this is an appropriate time to reflect on what USDA, FNS research has learned through more than a decade of study.
The Integrated Food Management System replaces the legacy, Automated Inventory System. IFMS consolidates food distribution transactions into a seamless, easy-to-use cloud-based platform.
FNS hosted a webinar to provide state agencies and food banks with information about how TEFAP can support cultural and religious practices around food, particularly those serving kosher and halal observant communities. The webinar featured panelists from state agencies and food banks who have successfully implemented processes to serve these specific communities.
FNS hosted a second webinar to provide program stakeholders with additional information on supporting kosher observant communities through TEFAP.
This is a new collection for the contract Assessment of Mobile Technologies for Using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Benefits (Mobile Payment Pilot evaluation). The purpose of the Mobile Payment Pilot evaluation is to assess the effects of five pilot projects that will allow SNAP participants to use mobile payments to purchase food as an alternate option to a physical electronic benefit transfer card.
The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will discontinue the requirement for vendors to use high security seals to secure USDA Foods deliveries as of July 1, 2023.
The 2008 Farm Bill authorized $20 million for pilot projects to evaluate health and nutrition promotion in SNAP to determine if incentives provided to SNAP recipients at the point-of-sale increase the purchase of fruits, vegetables or other healthful foods. FNS refers to this effort as the Healthy Incentives Pilot or HIP.
FNS requires that inventories do not exceed a six-month supply of any USDA Foods without approval from FNS. Per 7 CFR 250.17(a), state agencies administering TEFAP are required to use Form FNS-155, Inventory Management Register, to report any food items in state and state-contracted warehouses that exceed six months of inventory.