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Food Purchasing Patterns of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Participants
Author(s) -
Sanjeevi Namrata,
FreelandGraves Jeanne H
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.900.1
Subject(s) - supplemental nutrition assistance program , descriptive statistics , purchasing , medicine , environmental health , grocery store , demographics , household income , demography , business , food security , food insecurity , geography , marketing , archaeology , statistics , mathematics , sociology , agriculture
Participants of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) have been reported to have a lower diet quality as compared to income‐eligible nonparticipants. Since grocery purchases have a major impact on the type of foods consumed, this study will investigate food purchasing patterns of SNAP participants by analysis of their grocery receipts. A total of 110 subjects participating in SNAP were recruited from the Partner Agencies of the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. The demographics questionnaire was administered to subjects to record their ethnicity, age, date of receipt of SNAP benefits, amount of household SNAP benefits, household size, age of each household member, and marital status. The grocery receipts from household purchases for 1 month were collected from subjects. Foods were divided into 29 food categories, and the household percentage expenditure for each food category was identified. The Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) 2006 was utilized to determine the recommended percentage expenditure that can be spent on 29 food categories for each participating household. Descriptive statistics were used to indicate demographic characteristics. A Wilcoxon signed rank t‐test was conducted to determine differences between actual household food expenditure and the recommended expenditure for 29 food categories. The mean age of participants was 32.3 yrs and 60% of the participants were Hispanic. The SNAP benefits accounted for 83% of the household grocery expenditures for the entire month, while cash and WIC benefits represented 16% and 1% of the grocery expenditures, respectively. The household percentage expenditure was significantly lower than the TFP recommendation for the following food categories: whole fruits, dark green and orange vegetables, whole grains, soup, and low fat dairy. In contrast, expenditures were significantly higher than the recommendations for refined grains, red meat, bacon, sausage and lunch meats, frozen entrees, sugar and candies, and sodas and fruit drinks. This study demonstrates that SNAP benefits serve as the major resource for grocery purchases in this population. However, the type of foods purchased by SNAP participants does not meet the recommendations stipulated by the TFP. Thus, it is vital to provide nutrition education to SNAP participants to improve their food purchasing choices. Support or Funding Information Bess Heflin Centennial Professorship in Nutrition