“Restaurants want a piece of food stamp pie.” That is the headline of a USA Today article about fast food restaurants now lobbying to sell hot, cooked food to customers and get paid with food stamps!
Federal rules ban food stamp benefits from being exchanged for prepared foods in most states, but the USDA says a provision gives individual states permission to allow restaurants to serve disabled, elderly and homeless people.
But a lot of people are thinking some will find ways to slip through the cracks and abuse what was meant for the truly needy.
On one hand, it could set us back a few decades. Here the nation is screaming at “welfare moms” to get off food stamps, but Yum! Brands, which includes Taco Bell, KFC, Long John Silvers and Pizza Hut food chains may be giving them an incentive to stay on.
I mean, wouldn’t you if you could order a supreme Pizza and some buffalo wings tax free?!
Then again, we should look at it from another point of view. As mentioned, many recipients are homeless, disabled or elderly and, while they have a way to buy groceries with food stamps, they don’t have the ability to cook themselves a hot meal. For these people, this could be necessary for survival
Anti-hunger activists support the idea, but another group has yet another opinion – don’t we all?
Health advocates say encouraging more fast-food consumption is not good for people and could add to the nation’s health problems, including childhood obesity.
Let’s face it; people put what they want into their mouths. Offering food stamps will not contribute to childhood obesity. The parents allowing their children eat unhealthy food – fast or otherwise – is a major factor in their children’s overall health.
In the USA Today article, Kelly Brownell, director of Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, says encouraging more fast-food consumption is not good for people’s health. “It’s preposterous that a company like Yum! Brands would even be considered for inclusion in a program meant for supplemental nutrition.”
“They think going hungry is better?” counters Edward Cooney of the Congressional Hunger Center. “I’m solidly behind what Yum! is doing.”
According to USA today, there is big money at stake. USDA records show food stamp benefits swelled from $28.5 billion to $64.7billion in that period.
Four states accept food stamps at restaurants; Florida, California, Arizona and Michigan. What do you think about the program being added to your town?
