Wisconsin lawmaker seeks to restrict what can be bought with food stamps

[SoCalDem]

25. The definition of "food"

SoCalDem (99,089 posts) Mon Sep 3, 2012, 12:02 PM


73. Stuff like this happens because the definition of "food" has changed


I'm sure that corporate lobbyists have spent "brazillions" of dollars ensuring that the definition (for food stamps purposes) has remained "loose".

Grocery stores are vastly different from what they were when food stamps started out.

So is advertising.

The "normal" food-basket USED to contain mostly "building blocks" of food preparation, which were then put together at home to make a meal.

That changed for MOST people... a long time ago.

It's still possible to cook from scratch ( I do it every day), but look at how many people , especially poor people have limited access to adequate, storage, cooking facilities. It's entirely possible that some people with food stamps live in motels, or in someone's garage or spare room...or their car.

The USDA could have (at any time..or many times) changed the criteria of eligibility-of-foods (like WIC), but they have chosen NOT TO DO IT.

Large corporations do not WANT the criteria changed...neither do the grocery store magnates. They want to sell product, and if people find themselves unable to buy the stuff, food stamps bridge the gap when buying food..even if some of it is deemed "unsuitable" by "some people"..

Food stamps are also PURCHASED by poor people..not entirely "GIVEN" to them.

While it might seem "out of line" for a "poor person" to "waste" "our" tax dollars on something "we" think they should not be buying, it's LEGAL for them to buy anything that the rules say it's okay to buy with food stamps. This includes lots of things that are not "good for them" or even "nutritious", but the law calls those things "food"..

99.999999% of people on assistance use their "aid" wisely, but of course, the occasional "oddity" is what gets magnified.

Decades ago (In Indiana), actual FOOD was handed out to poor people.. My friend's Dad worked for the agency that did it. Every month, people lined up and got :

3 boxes of food: (items I remember being in the boxes)

eggs
butter
rice
beans
flour
sugar
cereal
powdered milk
potatoes
onions
pasta
canned soups
canned tomatoes
canned fruit
canned veggies

Of course food stamps (EBT cards) are easier to use since it requires no warehouses to store the stuff, no facility to hand the stuff out, and of course it allows people to choose what they want to buy, but it also transfers the responsibility to buy "good" food.. some will not do it....but most will