Thursday September 28, 2023
  • Venezuela
  • Mexico
  • Colombia
  • Chile
  • Brazil
  • Argentina
  • Podcast
Versión Español
PanAm Post
  • Home
  • Regions
    • South America
    • North America
    • Central America
    • Caribbean
  • Politics
  • Economics
  • Opinion
  • Podcast
  • Authors
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Regions
    • South America
    • North America
    • Central America
    • Caribbean
  • Politics
  • Economics
  • Opinion
  • Podcast
  • Authors
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result
PanAm Post
No Result
View All Result

Home » The US Government’s Decision to Subsidize Junk Food, Explained

The US Government’s Decision to Subsidize Junk Food, Explained

Guest Contributor by Guest Contributor
February 28, 2017
in Columnists, Featured, Ideology, North America, Opinion, Politics, Society, United States
FacebookTwitterTelegramWhatsapp
fast food and unhealthy eating concept - close up of fast food snacks and coca cola drink on wooden table
Fast food snacks and coca cola drinks (Clip Art Fox)

By Chris Edwards

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) aims for recipients to “make healthy food choices within a limited budget.” SNAP is supposed to “permit low-income households to obtain a more nutritious diet.”

RelatedArticles

The night Chris Rock turned into a 12-year-old whiny bully victim

The night Chris Rock turned into a 12-year-old whiny bully victim

March 26, 2023
The new socialist supremacisms: a maoist cultural revolution undermines the US

The new socialist supremacisms: a maoist cultural revolution undermines the US

August 21, 2021

However, the lofty goals of federal programs often differ from the actual results. It turns out that about $15 billion of SNAP benefits are for junk food. Apparently, recipients are not making the nutritious and healthy choices that the government promised.

SNAP, or food stamp, benefits totaled $67 billion in 2016. Food stamps can be used to buy just about any edible item in grocery stores other than alcohol, vitamins, and hot food. But exactly what is being purchased by the program’s 44 million recipients has been mainly shrouded in secrecy—until now.

A November study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture finally shed light on food stamp purchases. The study examined detailed data for SNAP and non-SNAP shoppers for one large food retailer over a one-year period.

The study found that SNAP shoppers bought slightly more junk food than non-SNAP shoppers. For example, 9.25 percent of total purchases by SNAP shoppers were for “sweetened beverages” such as cola, which compared to 7.1 percent for non-SNAP shoppers. At the same time, SNAP shoppers spent relatively less on nutritious foods such as fruits and vegetables.

For SNAP shoppers, “sweetened beverages,” “prepared desserts,” “salty snacks,” “candy,” and “sugar” accounted for 22.6 percent of purchases. These junk food items thus accounted for $15 billion of SNAP purchases in 2016, if the study is representative of all SNAP purchases.

SNAP is a bloated program, and cutting out junk food would be one way to reduce costs. The program was created to tackle hunger, but Harvard University’s Robert Paarlberg noted that on a typical day less than 1 percent of households now face “very low food security.” That low figure contrasts with the 17 percent of U.S. households that currently receive food stamps.

The main food-related health problem for low-income households today is not hunger, but obesity. CDC data show that people with low incomes are more obese than people with high incomes, on average. In general, low-income Americans are suffering not from too little food, but from too much of the wrong kinds of food.

  • Read More: US vs. Russia: Trump the Pragmatist vs. Clinton the Warmonger
  • Read More: Trump and Putin Status: “In a Relationship”

Ending SNAP’s junk food subsidies would likely cut demand for the program and reduce taxpayer costs. If policymakers decided that food stamps could only be used for items such as fruits and vegetables, fewer people would use the program, which would be a good thing.

An even better reform would be to end federal involvement in food stamps. Each state could then decide on the overall level of benefits it wanted, and on whether taxpayers should be subsidizing cola, candy, crackers, and cookies.

For more on food stamps, see here and here.

Chris Edwards is the director of tax policy studies at Cato and editor of DownsizingGovernment.org. This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article.

Tags: food freedom
Guest Contributor

Guest Contributor

Related Posts

The night Chris Rock turned into a 12-year-old whiny bully victim
Columnists

The night Chris Rock turned into a 12-year-old whiny bully victim

March 26, 2023
The new socialist supremacisms: a maoist cultural revolution undermines the US
Columnists

The new socialist supremacisms: a maoist cultural revolution undermines the US

August 21, 2021
GETTR: the powerful weapon of Trump and international right wing
United States

GETTR: the powerful weapon of Trump and international right wing

July 13, 2021
Three Signs That Elon Musk Has the World at His Fingertips
Columnists

Trump Against Suppression of Human Rights

February 1, 2021
Three Signs That Elon Musk Has the World at His Fingertips
News

15 Republicans Who Voted Against Trump Are Already Facing the Consequences

February 1, 2021
Three Signs That Elon Musk Has the World at His Fingertips
Analysis

Three Signs That Elon Musk Has the World at His Fingertips

February 1, 2021
Next Post
Mexican Immigrants Can Earn Six Times More in the US than Professionals Back Home

Mexican Immigrants Can Earn Six Times More in the US than Professionals Back Home

Subscribe free and never miss another breaking story

  • Venezuela
  • Mexico
  • Colombia
  • Chile
  • Brazil
  • Argentina
  • Podcast

© 2020 PanAm Post - Design & Develop by NEW DREAM GLOBAL CORP. - Privacy policy

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Regions
    • South America
    • North America
    • Central America
    • Caribbean
  • Politics
  • Economics
  • Opinion
  • Podcast
  • Authors
  • Contact

© 2020 PanAm Post - Design & Develop by NEW DREAM GLOBAL CORP. - Privacy policy

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Privacy and Cookie Policy.