USDA launches measures to reduce food stamp fraud
Agriculture Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumers Services Kevin Concannon today unveiled a series of what he called “aggressive new steps” to cut down on fraud and abuse in the supplemental nutrition assistance program known as SNAP and still called food stamps by many Americans.
Kevin Concannon
The announcement is part of the Obama administration’s “Campaign to Cut Waste," Concannon said.
Food stamp trafficking — the use of SNAP benefits for anything other than the purchase of food from authorized retailers, including the sale or exchange of benefits in SNAP — is only 1 cent on every dollar of benefits, he said, down from 4 cents on the dollar in 1993.
But, Concannon noted, there have been some high profile incidents of trafficking, and he said the administration is committed to maintaining a high level of integrity in the program “to ensure those dollars are invested wisely so the American people can have confidence in overall program performance as it serves as an important safety net for those in need.”
The rate of improper payment errors is only 3.8 percent, he said, of which 3 percent is overpayments. Concannon also said that 99.5 percent of supermarkets never engage in trafficking, and that most of the stores that do engage in it are small ones.
Concannon noted:
The announcement is part of the Obama administration’s “Campaign to Cut Waste," Concannon said.
Food stamp trafficking — the use of SNAP benefits for anything other than the purchase of food from authorized retailers, including the sale or exchange of benefits in SNAP — is only 1 cent on every dollar of benefits, he said, down from 4 cents on the dollar in 1993.
But, Concannon noted, there have been some high profile incidents of trafficking, and he said the administration is committed to maintaining a high level of integrity in the program “to ensure those dollars are invested wisely so the American people can have confidence in overall program performance as it serves as an important safety net for those in need.”
The rate of improper payment errors is only 3.8 percent, he said, of which 3 percent is overpayments. Concannon also said that 99.5 percent of supermarkets never engage in trafficking, and that most of the stores that do engage in it are small ones.
Concannon noted:
- There have been some incidents of people announcing on Facebook and Craigslist of their “intent to sell” food stamps, and that the intent to sell has not been illegal. Announcing the intent to sell will now be a reason for disqualification of benefits.
- In states where people are paid to return plastic and glass bottles, there have been cases of people buying beverages, dumping them and then turning the bottles in for payments. The worst cases, he said, have been of people buying organic milk in glass bottles and returning the bottles for $2.50 and also buying water for office coolers in bottles. This will also be a reason for disqualification of benefits.
- USDA awarded a 10-year contract to SRA International, Inc. to develop the next generation of its fraud detection system.
- Cases of food stamp trafficking can be reported at 1-800-424-9121.
