Restaurants also fight to accept food stamps

Restaurants also fight to accept food stamps USDA records show that from 2005 to 2010, the number of businesses accepting food stamps in the United States increased by one-third...

Restaurants are also fighting to accept food stamps. USDA records show that from 2005 to 2010, the number of businesses in the United States that accept food stamps increased by one-third, as convenience stores, discount stores, gas stations and pharmacies all joined the program to accept subsidies for the poor. Now, restaurants that have been outside the program are lobbying for a piece of the relief package. Louisville-based Yum! Brands is trying to get its restaurants to participate, according to federal lobbying records. Yum Brands’ restaurant chains include Taco Bell, KFC, Long John Silver’s and Pizza Hut. That's a trend welcomed by anti-hunger rights activists, but one that worries existing food stamp retailers and public health advocates. Federal rules would have prohibited the use of food stamps to purchase ready-made foods. Food stamps are a supplemental nutrition relief program distributed by the United States Department of Agriculture. But the 1970 statute includes a provision that allows states to let restaurants serve disabled, elderly and homeless people who use food stamps. From 2005 to 2010, the number of enterprises receiving supplementary nutrition relief program certificates increased from 156,000 to 209,000. Department of Agriculture records show that food stamp relief funding increased from $28.5 billion to $64.7 billion during the same period. Four states already allow restaurants to accept food stamps, with Florida the latest to join the program. Yum spokesman Jonathan Blum said programs that have worked well in California, Arizona and Michigan should be expanded to help homeless, elderly and disabled people use food stamps to buy ready-made food. The National Restaurant Association also supports Yum! But the National Association of Convenience Stores opposed it. Convenience Store Association spokesman Jeff Lenard said the pie is only so big and no one wants to see the pie sliced ​​thin. Nor is it certain that it is in the public health interest. Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale, said encouraging fast food consumption is bad for people's health. It's ridiculous that a company like Yum Brands would even consider adding a nutritional supplement program.