My blog post appeared on:
Huffington Post
Civil Eats
EcoWatch
Corporations and Health Watch
Vegecareian
TreeHugger
Living Green
Organic Connections

My article with Christopher Cook on AlterNet:
Are Corporations and Big Banks Making a Windfall From Food Stamps?

Reuters story: Report wants to know how much soda is bought with US food stamps

Reuters story also appeared on:
-       AlterNet (Thomson Reuters)
-       Baltimore Sun
-       Fox News
-       Huffington Post
-       Yahoo News
-       MSNBC
-       CNBC
-       MSN Money
-       The Mercury
-       News Direct
-       The Republic
-       Buffalo Public Radio
-       Northeast Public Radio
-       Rhode Island Public Radio
-       South Florida Public TV
-       Time of News
-       Red Orbit
-       Food News
-       EmpowHER

Additional coverage:

- VegNews Magazine: SNAP Out of It (PDF)

- Virgina Watchdog: Food stamps a ‘sweet’ deal for recipients, but critics sour on costs, fraud

- The Atlantic: In Defense of Food Stamps

- AlterNet: America’s 47 Million Hungry Mouths Are Just Another Corporate Cash Cow

- KCBS In Depth (radio): Follow the Money Behind Food Stamps

- Up with Chris Hayes (blog): The decades-long debate over food stamps

- The Columbus Dispatch (editorial): Food Stamp Secrecy: Federal government should release data about how this aid money is spent

- Washington Examiner: The New American Food Stamp Plantation

- Time Moneyland: Food Stamps: More Benefit to Big Food than to the Poor?

- Food Sleuth Radio Interview

- San Francisco Chronicle: Use of government aid for junk food questioned (front page)

- New Jersey News Room: Millions of food stamp dollars go to junk food, companies

- The International: Food Stamp Funding Faces Deep Cuts in US Congress

- The Daily: Hungry for Profit: More Americans going on food stamps means a windfall for JPMorgan

- KTRH Houston News Radio Interview

- Washington Times: Top secret: $80B a year for food stamps, but feds won’t reveal what’s purchased

- Chicago Tribune: Politicians, health advocates seek transparency, restrictions in food stamp program

- NPR: Report Urges Food Stamp Program to Clarify Purchases, Corporate Profits
Cross-posted on:
WGBH – Boston
KALW – San Francisco
(numerous other NPR affiliate sites)

- Marion Nestle: Who benefits most from food stamps? Follow the money!
Cross-posted on Food Safety News
The Atlantic: Do Food Stamps Need More Restrictions?

- Yahoo! Finance video interview by Aaron Task: Marion Nestle on The (Big) Business of Food Stamps: “Here’s Where the Profits Come in”

- Marc Gunther: Soda, Obesity, and Your Tax Dollars at Work
Cross-posted on Sustainable Business Forum

- Marc Gunther: Anti-hunger, Pro-soda: Are you kidding me?

- Grist: Oh snap! Are food stamps another big subsidy for Big Food?
Cross-posted on Daily Kos

- Raj Patel: We Know More About Who Makes Our Bombs Than Who Feeds Our Kids

- Slate’s Moneybox: Food Stamps Are Not a Corporate Giveaway

- The Packer: Do as Simon says: Food stamps data should be open for review

- Everyday Health: Should Food Stamps Users Be Able to Buy Junk Food?

- AllGov: Which Corporations Profit from Food Stamps?

- Sunlight Foundation: Who’s money behind the farm bill?

- Small Planet: Food Stamp Subsidies for Junk Food Makers, Big Box Retailers, and Banks?

- Care2: Lining the Pockets of Big Food with Food Stamps

- Food Safety News: 2012 Farm Bill Advances Under Pressure Over Healthy Food

- Blisstree.com: We Don’t Need to Track Food Stamps Buys to Say Subsidizing Soda Isn’t Good

- Cheery Observations: Farm Bill Update: The Ongoing Food Stamps Debate

- The Lunch Tray: The Farm Bill: A Link Round-Up

- Daily Finance (AOL): Junk Food: The Pariah That’s Replacing Tobacco

- Republic Report: How JP Morgan Makes Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars On Food Assistance Programs

- Examiner.com: J.P. Morgan makes billions in profits from food stamps every year

As Congress proposes cuts to hungry families, my new report raises questions about how much food makers, retailers, and big banks profit from food stamps.

With the debate over the 2012 Farm Bill currently underway in the Senate, most of the media’s attention has been focused on how direct payments—subsidies doled out regardless of actual farming—are being replaced with crop insurance, in a classic shell game that Big Ag’s powerful lobby is likely to pull off.

Meanwhile, the Senate may hurt the less powerful by cutting $4.5 billion from the largest piece of the farm bill pie: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called food stamps). Reducing this lifeline for 46 million struggling Americans (more than 1 in 7—nearly half of them children) has become a sideshow in the farm bill circus, even though SNAP spending grew to $78 billion in 2011, and is projected to go higher if the economy does not improve.

While New York Senator Kristen Gillibrand’s amendment to restore cuts to SNAP by reducing insurance payments is a noble effort, what’s missing from this conversation is the role of corporations. Much attention has focused on how agricultural subsidies fuel our cheap, unhealthy food supply. In reality, the largest and most overlooked taxpayer subsidy to Big Food in the farm bill is SNAP, which now represents more than ten percent of all grocery spending.

In a report I released today—Food Stamps, Follow the Money: Are Corporations Profiting From Hungry Americans?—I examine the role of three powerful industry sectors that benefit from SNAP: 1) major food manufacturers such as Coca-Cola, Kraft, and Mars; 2) leading food retailers such as Walmart and Kroger; and 3) large banks, such as J.P. Morgan Chase, which contract with states to help administer SNAP benefits. Findings from the report include:

• Powerful food industry lobbying groups such as the American Beverage Association and the Snack Food Association teamed up to oppose health-oriented improvements to SNAP, at times working with anti-hunger groups
• At least nine states have proposed bills to make health-oriented improvements to SNAP, but none have passed, in part due to opposition from the food industry
• In one year, nine Walmart Supercenters in Massachusetts together received more than $33 million in SNAP dollars—over four times the SNAP money spent at farmers markets nationwide
• In two years, Walmart received about half of the one billion dollars in SNAP expenditures in Oklahoma
• J.P. Morgan Chase holds contracts in 24 states to administer SNAP benefits, indicating concentrated power and a lack of competition
• In New York, a seven-year deal originally paid J.P. Morgan Chase $112 million for EBT services, and was recently amended to add $14.3 million—an increase of 13 percent
• States are seeing unexpected increases in administrative costs, while banks and other private contractors are reaping significant windfalls from the economic downturn and increasing SNAP participation.

Most details about where SNAP dollars go remains hidden. For example, although such data is readily available, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (which administers food assistance) refuses to make public how much money individual retailers make from SNAP. In addition, Congress does not require data collection on specific SNAP product purchases (such as Coke versus Tropicana), despite such information being critical to effective evaluation of the program.

USDA also does not collect national data on how much money banks make on SNAP. States bear much of the burden of these administrative costs. Are lucrative contracts with private banks the most cost-effective way to administer a critical food assistance program at a time of severe budget cuts? Could we feed more hungry Americans with some of the profits these corporations are making?

Anthony Smukall is a SNAP participant living in Buffalo, New York, where he says his fellow residents are “facing cuts year after year, with no sustainable jobs to be able to get off of programs such as SNAP.” He thinks that “transparency should be mandatory. The people have a right to know where our money is going, plain and simple.” He added: “J.P. Morgan is shaking state pockets, which then rolls down to every tax-paying citizen. I am disgusted with the numbers in this report, it is unimaginable. If the people knew how such programs were run, and how money is taken in by some of the world’s conglomerates, there would be outrage on a grand scale.”

Jennifer L. of Massachusetts is a single mother who recently re-entered the workforce and hopes Congress does not cut SNAP because as she explains: “SNAP makes a huge difference in my ability to support my children and pay the bills. Food prices have been skyrocketing while salaries remain unchanged. Many people I know have two jobs to try to make ends meet.” She added: “I am in favor of making retailers’ and banks’ information regarding SNAP public. What are they hiding?”

Instead of hurting families during these hard times with cuts to SNAP, Congress should require program improvements that would restore its original purpose: providing a safety net for those in need while also helping farmers. Congress should also make SNAP more transparent by mandating accurate tracking of SNAP expenditures. Why should only the likes of Walmart and Coca-Cola know how billions of our tax dollars are spent each year? Is SNAP truly “putting healthy food within reach” as its tagline proclaims?

You can download the full report here.

Update: See Reuters story.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

As 2012 Farm Bill debate rages in Congress, a new report demands SNAP program transparency

Oakland, CA, June 12, 2012 — Are food stamps lining the pockets of the nation’s wealthiest corporations instead of closing the hunger gap in the United States? Why does Walmart benefit from more than $200 million in annual food stamp purchases in Oklahoma alone? Why does one bank, J.P. Morgan Chase, hold exclusive contracts in 24 states to administer public benefits?

These are a few of the questions explored in a new report called: “Food Stamps, Follow the Money: Are Corporations Profiting from Hungry Americans?” from Michele Simon, president of Eat Drink Politics, a watchdog consulting group. This first-of-its kind investigation details how the food stamp program—originally designed to help farmers and those in need—lines the pockets of junk food makers, food retailers, and banks.

Right now, Congress is debating the farm bill, including significant cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps). Much attention has focused on how agricultural subsidies fuel our cheap, unhealthy food supply. In reality, the largest and most overlooked taxpayer subsidy to the food industry is SNAP, which comprised two-thirds of the farm bill budget in 2008.

“Michele Simon’s well-researched, credible investigation breaks new ground and exposes who else stands to gain from the government’s largest food assistance program,” said New York University Professor Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics. “While reauthorizing the farm bill, Congress needs to make sure that the poor get their fair share of SNAP benefits,” she added.

Food Stamps, Follow the Money examines what we know and don’t know about how much the food industry and large banks benefit from a tax-payer program that has grown to $78 billion in 2011, up from $30 billion just four years earlier, and projected to increase further due to current economic conditions.

“Transparency should be mandatory. The people have a right to know where our money is going, plain and simple,” said Anthony Smukall, a SNAP participant living in Buffalo, New York. He says his fellow residents are “facing cuts year after year, with no sustainable jobs to be able to get off of programs such as SNAP.”

Smukall added, “J.P. Morgan is shaking state pockets, which then rolls down to every tax paying citizen. I am disgusted with the numbers in this report. If people knew how such programs were run, and how money is taken in by some of the world’s conglomerates, there would be outrage on a grand scale.

As the largest government-funded agriculture program in the nation, SNAP presents a tremendous opportunity to help tens of millions of Americans be better nourished and to reshape our food system in a positive way. SNAP dollars now represent more than 10 percent of all grocery store purchases.

“Every year, tens of billions of SNAP dollars are propping up corporations that are exploiting their workers and producing foods that are making America sick,” said Andy Fisher, founder and former executive director of the Community Food Security Coalition, who is currently writing a book about the anti-hunger movement. “It’s high time we stopped this madness, and returned the food stamp program to its original purpose: providing needy Americans healthy real food grown by farmers,” he added.

“I hope Congress does not cut SNAP. Food prices have been skyrocketing while salaries remain unchanged, and many people I know have two jobs to try to make ends meet,” said Jennifer L., a SNAP participant living in Massachusetts. “As a single mom who has only recently re-entered the workforce, the SNAP assistance I receive makes a huge difference in my ability to support my children,” she added. “I am in favor of making retailers’ and banks’ information regarding SNAP public. What are they hiding?”

Food Stamps, Follow the Money offers several recommendations on how to improve SNAP in order to maximize government benefits for those in need. These include:

• Congress should maintain SNAP funding in this time of need for millions of Americans;
• Congress should require collection and disclosure of SNAP product purchase data, retailer redemptions, and national data on bank fees;
• USDA should evaluate state EBT contracts to determine if banks are taking undue advantage of taxpayer funds.

“Congress should make SNAP more transparent by mandating accurate tracking of SNAP expenditures. Why should only the likes of Walmart, Coca-Cola, and J.P. Morgan know how many billions of our tax dollars are spent each year?” said Ms. Simon.

Download the complete report: “Food Stamps, Follow the Money: Are Corporations Profiting from Hungry Americans” here.

About: Michele Simon is a public health lawyer specializing in industry marketing and lobbying tactics. She is president of Eat Drink Politics, a consulting group that helps advocates counter corporate tactics and advance food and alcohol policy. www.eatdrinkpolitics.com Twitter: @MicheleRSimon

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